Every January 26, the calendar registers two important events with the future of the planet: World Environmental Education Day and International Clean Energy Day. The two events aim to focus on the importance of promoting good environmental education and the need to move towards more sustainable energy models.
World Environmental Education Day was proclaimed in 1972 by the United Nations and ratified by UNESCO in 1975, with the aim of building around it a good foundation on which to sustain, through awareness, the significance for life in the planet to protect the environment.
For its part, International Clean Energy Day, proclaimed by the United Nations in 2012, emphasizes the importance of moving towards the use of cleaner energy.
Since 1972, numerous international conferences and meetings have been held to date that have been redefining the environmental pedagogical plans and objectives and the roadmap of the so-called energy transition.
Environmental education and the energy transition constitute a highly interrelated binomial. Environmental education helps to raise awareness about the value of clean energy and promote its use, and the energy transition favors the implementation and use of renewable energy sources, more in line with environmental care.
Furthermore, both commemorations are based on two premises, the first is the urgency of facing the challenges that the world currently faces – whether social, economic, health or environmental crises – that represent a danger to life. The second is related to the role that education plays, as an engine of change, in helping to understand the social, environmental and economic dimensions and repercussions of adopting more sustainable living models.
Educational training for more green jobs
Many countries are incorporating sustainability into their formal training curricula; companies are also applying, in increasing numbers, sustainability criteria to both their business plans and their organizational structures. Likewise, social institutions are incorporating or expanding training and dissemination tasks on sustainability.
This is the case of the Naturgy Foundation, which since 2018 has promoted training and improvement of employability in the energy sector, through its Vocational Training Program for Employability, with the aim of promoting the training of new employment professionals. green.
In addition, Fundación Naturgy also works on the transfer of specialized knowledge on new energy technologies and the keys to the transition towards a more sustainable energy system, as well as on the dissemination of values of environmental preservation and responsible energy consumption.
The central idea of this multidisciplinary training activity for employment revolves around three very specific objectives: on the one hand, it launches training actions aimed at teachers of vocational training courses related to the energy sector. On the other hand, it gives access to the contents of the Module “Sustainability applied to the productive system”, developed by the Foundation together with the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports. And finally, it develops training projects, in pilot format, that contribute to improving employability in the energy sector.
Naturgy Foundation also develops unpublished educational resources, aimed at vocational training and prepared together with specialists in each subject, such as the collection of theoretical-practical books “Vocational Education and Training in Energy, Professional training for employability” and the adaptation of publications to courses in e-learning format, together with the Open University of Catalonia (UOC).
The training proposal in Vocational Training of the Naturgy Foundation, for which it is a member of the Alliance for Vocational Training, is aligned with the Just Transition Strategy, and has the recognition and collaboration of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, the competent administrations in education and employment of 9 autonomous communities, the State Public Employment Service (SEPE), the State Foundation for Employment Training (FUNDAE), the National Institute of Qualifications (INCUAL) and the Association of FPEmpresa Vocational Training Centers
Since the launch of this initiative in 2018, more than one hundred and forty thousand people, including teachers, students and professionals, have benefited from this training program for green employment.
Five objectives of environmental education and clean energy
Awaken environmental awareness It helps to understand the importance of conserving natural resources and to be aware of the impact that certain decisions can have on the environment, especially those related to energy sources.
Facilitate sustainability. Knowing alternative ways of producing goods and services taking advantage of resources and reducing the consumption of raw materials and natural resources, as well as the use of renewable energy sources helps to consider more environmentally friendly options.
Promote sustainable efficiency. Having greater knowledge about efficient uses and technologies such as waste management or energy conservation in homes and buildings contributes to environmental preservation.
Fight climate change. Environmental education helps to understand the relationship between energy generation from non-renewable sources, greenhouse gas emissions and their impact on climate change, facilitating a deeper understanding of global environmental problems.
Encourage participation. Educating environmentally facilitates the formation of one’s own opinion and criticism, which, in turn, contributes to the development of more informed people committed to protecting and improving the planet.