An attractive sector which must face up to the challenges of development throughout the territory
The study, conducted by LHH and Adecco Analytics, shows the sector's development potential for the next decade through the materialization of a "green acceleration" scenario and the convergence of several factors: the investment expenditure of the State, public authorities and businesses, a behavioral revolution in customers supported by players in the sector, and the conversion of infrastructures to biogas and hydrogen. The current upheaval of the major energy and strategic balances, due to the urgency of the ecological transition and the global geopolitical context, is fully likely to further accelerate the mobilization of players and business investment.
Thus, 170.000 new hires are expected in gas production (including hydrogen, biomethane and biopropane) and in energy services (renovation, installation, operation, maintenance of equipment and facilities). Qualified, sustainable, open to diversity, they will benefit the French economy, in all regions and in particular in rural areas.
They will be added to the 231.400 employees of the sector positioned on the five links of the value chain: production, transport and storage, distribution, trade and sale, energy services, equipment and installations, distributed throughout the territory in a diffuse way. within very diverse companies, including a majority of VSEs and SMEs.
Trends of strong evolution of professions and skills in connection with geopolitical issues and ecological transition
In connection with France's ambitious objective of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, this prospective study, with an unprecedented scope, identifies several challenges:
- the decarbonization of networks and energy distribution as a whole thanks to new green processes;
- the continuation, or even the acceleration, of technological developments: digitization, Internet of Things, remote management of installations, automated management of data, networks and blockchain;
- the development of new energy uses linked to real energy performance and service to building occupants;
- the attractiveness of a sector that has strong recruitment needs by 2030 but has to deal with an aging workforce and already very strong tensions in certain professions.
A broadening of skills needs for all trades in the sector
These trends translate into strong expectations from companies, which will need more employees with a broad base of skills and abilities to manage customer relations, or even new skills bricks:
- digital agility will have to be developed for all professions, in particular that of technicians in contact with increasingly automated tools and equipment;
- improving energy performance will be at the heart of tomorrow's challenges (design & operation of more sober structures, maintenance of increasingly complex equipment and installations, ability to recommend more efficient solutions).
In this perspective of increasing skills and in view of the challenges of attractiveness and recruitment facing the sector, the evolution of the training offer (continuous and initial) is essential. More readable, better distributed and adapted according to territorial specificities, the offer should be oriented towards the needs of companies, in particular VSEs and SMEs, and more accessible to employees who wish to enroll in career paths at the service of the transition. energy.
Aware of the in-depth transformation of the sector, historically anchored in a system of exploitation of fossil energy, all the actors are mobilizing to offer training, professions and courses in the service of controlling consumption and decarbonization of the territories' energy mix.
As such, in order to develop its attractiveness and support its transformations, the actors of the EDEC are working today on the creation of a digital portal intended to make better known the anchoring and the social footprint of their companies in the territories, the professions that are recruiting, but also the training offer and the many regional initiatives on the energies and solutions of tomorrow which testify to the vitality of the sector.
The signatories of the EDEC for gas, heat and associated energy solutions: Ministry of Labour, Employment and Integration, professional organizations of employers: UNEMIG National union of gas industry employers, Federation of environmental energy services - FEDENE , trade union organizations of employees representing the Electrical and Gas Industries branch: Federation CFE-CGC Energies, Federation Chemistry Energy CFDT, Federation FO Energy and Mines, trade union organizations of employees representing the branch of thermal and HVAC equipment: Federation National Federation of Construction and Wood CFDT, National Union of Heating and Housing SNCH affiliated to the Enermine CFE-CGC federation, General Federation FO Construction, Federation UNSA Industry and construction, professional trade union associations in the gas sector, heat and related energy solutions: Association franç aise du gaz – AFG, National union for energy efficiency maintenance and services – SYNASAV, Union of climate engineering, roofing and plumbing trades – UMGCCP, France Hydrogène, France Biomethane, France Gaz Liquides.