Albania has below-basic level preparations and lags far behind the region in adapting its education system and labor market to the green transition.
The European Training Foundation, which looks after human capital outside the EU, assessed Albania negatively in preparing the workforce for the green economy.
The low-carbon transition is reshaping economies across the EU's neighbours and Central Asia. As energy systems change, industries adapt and communities experience profound changes in work.
The European Training Foundation's report "Enhancing Just Transitions in the EU's Neighborhood and Central Asia" for 25 countries, including the Western Balkans, assesses that Albania is not even in the early stages of preparation and thus risks leaving workers and communities unprepared for the transition.
Albania scores positively only on the first two criteria, which relate to the general recognition of the social and employment impacts of climate change and the mention of new or changing workforce needs due to the green transition.
Albanian strategic documents acknowledge in principle that the climate transition has social consequences and requires labor market adaptation, but there is no practical planning and implementation.
In almost all other criteria, Albania is assessed negatively. The analysis shows that Albania does not refer to the need for retraining or upskilling of workers in sectors affected by the green transition, does not address the role of education and skills development as an instrument for anticipating labor market needs, and does not identify specific groups in need of targeted support, such as youth, women, migrants, or people with disabilities.
The green transition in Albanian documents is conceived primarily as an environmental and technical process, not as a socio-economic transformation.
Albania also does not foresee concrete budgets or financial commitments for investments in skills and training in the framework of the green transition, nor clear institutional roles for the responsible ministries or agencies. The ETF notes that there is no political and institutional architecture linking the climate transition with human capital development.
Compared to countries like Montenegro, North Macedonia or Serbia, which display more positive or partially inclusive elements, Albania emerges as one of the least prepared countries in the social aspect of the green transition./Monitor.al/
