Comment: Designing a net zero future through humanist engineers

Delivering net zero and creating a global energy transition isn’t something that can be achieved through either money or infrastructure alone; it needs a global upskilling and training programme to ensure we have the people to design, build and use technology in new ways.

At MAIRE, we call these people ‘Humanist Engineers’ – a vision of a workforce trained and skilled in all the technical competencies needed to design and use green, circular, sustainable technologies and deliver lower emissions. These people must also be equipped with soft skills to better understand societal and environmental needs, be able to navigate complexity and, have the vision of the future to imagine solutions that now do not exist or still need to be brought to scale.

At COP28, Fondazione MAIRE launched the findings of a global research study into the issue of how we develop the skills and competencies needed for a net zero future. The research was conducted by IPSOS and commissioned by Fondazione MAIRE and sponsored by the group’s companies Tecnimont and NextChem. The study included 1,700 interviews conducted among highly educated people across ten countries in four continents: Italy, UK, USA, India, China, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Algeria, Chile and Turkey and we also held interviews and gained deeper insights from 15 global sustainability and energy transition experts.

This research was presented together with IPSOS at an event in the COP28 Blue Zone in Dubai, with the participation of representatives of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), of the International Energy Agency (IEA), of Global Compact Italy and with the presence of the ambassador of Italy to the UAE. They discussed how the energy transition presented an opportunity for international industrial and institutional cooperation.

The report found that 96 per cent of those polled had heard of the energy transition with around two-in-three respondents seeing it as a priority. There was a broad understanding that delivering this transition will create new roles and jobs and agreement that the energy transition was an opportunity as much as a cost.

While the energy transition is often talked about in terms of risk mitigation and climate adaptation, it will also see new businesses and jobs created in the renewable energy, technology and industrial sectors, plus in administration and civil society.

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That will need new workers with specific skills and competencies and existing workers to reskill. It will also need strong leadership and commitment from governments, accompanied by effective policies, regulations and collaboration between countries, as energy systems become increasingly interconnected.

That process of investment, reskilling and collaboration will present significant economic opportunity, particularly for those countries that are early movers and understand the need to develop a workforce for the decarbonised future.

The study suggests that G7 countries have not embraced the need for reskilling and education as much as emerging economies and that if this disconnect plays out into the wider economy it could see developing countries (that invest in upskilling their workforce) capitalise on the energy transition more effectively than established economic powers.

The study highlights that the importance of education and training is particularly recognised in Middle Eastern countries (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey), Algeria, and Chile, where a substantial portion of individuals stress its importance and urgency. However, there's a concern that educational progress is still too slow.

The required skills for future energy transition professionals varies across countries, but it's evident that technical and soft skills are crucial. The emphasis on creativity (in the UK, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, India and the UAE), problem-solving (in Italy, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, China, the USA, and Chile), critical thinking (in the UK), and analytical skills signals the need for new professionals with a different mindset. 

At the same time, technical knowledge on environmental impact analysis (in the UK, the UAE, and the USA), alternative materials (in China), renewable energy sources (in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Algeria), and circular economy principles (in India), are seen as pivotal. This reflects these countries' awareness of the educational gaps that need to be addressed.

Embracing these opportunities and challenges requires existing technology to be used differently as well as developing new solutions that bring a wider technical response to climate change. All this needs us to focus equally on how people use technology, products and infrastructures as well as how we design and engineer new generations of low-carbon technology, products and services.

Fabrizio Di Amato, Chairman of MAIRE Group and of the Foundation, during his closing remarks in Dubai said: “Addressing the energy and net zero transition needs us to embrace the concept of the ‘humanist engineer’ as a new type of transformation agent. These people will navigate complexity and find solutions that include technological innovation, attention to economic, environmental and social needs and cultural aspects.”

Without a revolution in the way we train and equip millions of people needed to deliver net zero, we will fall short in building the infrastructure, products and services needed for mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

Ilaria Catastini, director Fondazione MAIRE