Naturgy Foundation and SEPE will collaborate to align vocational training for the unemployed with the current needs of the energy sector

Naturgy Foundation will collaborate with the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) to update the public body's range of training offers in the field of energy. The aim of the agreement is to contribute to improving the employability of unemployed people attending the public body's workshop schools and employment workshops.

Today, the General Manager of the Naturgy Foundation, María Eugenia Coronado, and the General Manager of SEPE, Gerardo Gutiérrez Ardoy, signed a general protocol for coordinating the collaboration within the framework of the vocational training system for employment in SEPE's workplace.

The energy company's foundation will advise the public body to carry out an ongoing updating of its Training Specialities Catalogue in the field of energy, sustainability and the environment, to meet the demand of emerging sectors and occupations linked to energy efficiency, renewable energies and new energy technologies.

Coronado expressed her satisfaction with the impetus and the implementation of an updating, promotion and professional vocation plan for employment in the workplace, relating to the energy sector. "To ensure a fair and sustainable energy transition, we at the Naturgy Foundation aim to be an active player in the transforming and providing skills for our professionals, who will require new expertise in energy innovation and digitalisation.

The signing of this agreement is part of the Vocational Training for Employability Programme under which the Naturgy Foundation contributes to improving the skills of professionals to improve employability in the energy sector, updating their knowledge about natural gas vehicles, sustainable and efficient building and renovation, renewable gases, energy consulting in vulnerable environments and the digitalisation of electricity grids.

Under the agreement signed today, the two organisations will also collaborate on the development of training projects to boost the digital transition in the energy sector.

Gutiérrez Ardoy stressed the importance of the agreement as "we at SEPE are always working to promote actions that lead us to improving people's employability, through connections that are closer to the needs of the productive system. The double transition, green and digital, is a priority focus in the sectors of the future for our economy."

Vocational training for employability programme

The Vocational Training for employability programme is part of the Naturgy Foundation’s extensive educational catalogue aimed at teachers, colleges, schools and professionals from the sector that need to update their training.

Its efforts in this field enjoy recognition from the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training and certification from the competent public authorities in Education (regional ministries of Madrid, Galicia, Catalonia, Asturias, the Valencian Community, Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha and Andalusia) and is aligned with the MITECO's Just Transition Strategy, which seeks to generate active employment and vocational-training policies for coordinated work between authorities and social players.

Following its launch in 2018, the programme will be benefiting over 9,000 students during the coming 2021-22 academic year. With the aim of promoting vocational training, the Foundation will launch e-learning training courses in September, the first of which will be on renewable gas. It will also launch a collection of theory and practice books to support training and knowledge transfer.