Vocational education and training sits at the centre of the green transition, and it is under strain. That is the headline of a working paper published by the OECD in May 2026, which examines how well VET systems are supplying the skills that green and STEM jobs increasingly demand.
The paper finds that VET is especially important for the middle-skilled occupations central to the green transition, and that these roles are increasingly exposed to skill mismatches when training does not keep pace with change. In fast-moving fields, qualifications and curricula risk describing yesterday’s jobs rather than the ones employers are now trying to fill.
The analysis draws on online job-vacancy data from Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom to read what employers actually ask for. Two findings stand out: green and STEM occupations overlap substantially, so green work often depends on science, technology, engineering, and maths knowledge, and employers differ markedly from one country to another in how much they value VET qualifications and apprenticeships when recruiting.
From there the OECD sets out where policy should focus. It calls for clearer signalling of skill needs, better alignment between VET qualifications and green labour-market demand, targeted upskilling, and stronger apprenticeships as an inclusive way into green careers.
For anyone working on circular economy skills, the message is direct. The bottleneck in the transition is not only technology or investment but whether training systems can identify emerging skill needs quickly and turn them into qualifications the labour market recognises. That alignment, between what circular businesses need and what vocational training delivers, is the problem RECEBA is working to solve across its regions.
- francescolembo
- June 14, 2026
- 8:13 pm