Veolia launches a school of “ecological transformation” led by Jean-Michel Blanquer

Mr. Blanquer wishes to "contribute to ecological transformation by accelerating training in ecological transition professions", he indicated during an interview with AFP.

The school, which has the status of a non-profit association, currently supports existing training in the public and private sectors and will eventually develop diplomas and training with partners or on its own.

“We are a founding member of this school, the idea of ​​which we launched about two years ago,” Estelle Brachlianoff, general director of Veolia, told AFP, referring to the group’s rapprochement with its competitor as the trigger. Suez which has made Veolia, in its words, a “champion of ecological transition”.

Accelerating the deployment of technical solutions for the problems of water resources, depollution or local energy production requires respecting two postulates, according to Ms. Brachlianoff: "the fact that these solutions can only be deployed the scale of the territories, and the fact that we need people to deploy them, so we must attract them to our professions and train them.”

She recalls that eight million jobs in France will be affected by ecological transformation by 2030 and that this movement will result in the creation of 400.000 jobs (net balance of 150.000), according to projections from the attached ecological planning secretariat. in Matignon.

Problem is, these professions are often little known, according to Ms. Brachlianoff: across her group, 2.000 jobs are open, which do not necessarily find takers: for example electromechanic for the management of water networks or maintenance technician.

To raise awareness among 100.000 young people about these issues and train 60.000 people (from short training to master's degrees, from young people without qualifications to executives undergoing retraining) by 2030, "we need coalitions at the territorial level", in collaboration with the National Education, Pôle Emploi and local elected officials, she adds.

Among the partner companies that joined the project, EDF, Adeo (formerly Leroy Merlin) and Dassault Systèmes.

After the opening of the Arras campus, Terra Academia plans to open one in Paris, before "an international deployment within two years and a presence in all French regions within five years".