In India, a trainee troubleshoots a smart grid system. In a Senegalese classroom, a young woman wires a solar panel for the first time. But these aren’t isolated scenes; they’re signals of a global shift.
From Latin America’s embrace of renewables, to Sub-Saharan Africa – where solar energy claims more than twice the share it does in the U.S. – to India, where solar power is the most affordable on Earth, emerging economies are daring to lead the energy transition.
But progress is carried by people. And right now, we’re short on skills.
The lack of trained workers is slowing momentum everywhere. In India, it’s delaying clean energy goals. And in Africa and Latin America, youth unemployment remains high, even as demand for green and digital jobs surges. According to CIO.com, 67% of digital transformations stall due to skill shortages. Basically, we’re building the future without training the builders.
At the same time, youth populations in these areas are booming. By 2030, 42% of the world’s young people will live in Africa. The Asia-Pacific region already accounts for more than half. These regions have a rare opportunity: to leapfrog traditional infrastructure toward smart, sustainable systems – but only if they equip their youth with the right skills.
In short, tomorrow’s workforce must be fluent in both sustainability and digital tools.
To meet this moment, we united our youth training efforts – active in over 60 countries for more than 15 years – under a single umbrella: the Youth Impact Through Learning (YITL) initiative. It delivers scalable, inclusive, and locally relevant training for the next generation of energy professionals.
Future-focused and targeted skills
YITL spans the world. It offers hands-on training, digital learning, equipment donations, and entrepreneurial support. Programs include the Schneider Electric School, the Engineers for School network in France, and our Youth Education and Entrepreneurship (YEE) Program – recognized by the World Economic Forum in 2025.
And it’s working. So far, the YEE program, supported by the Schneider Electric Foundation, has trained over 928,000 youth, 11,500 trainers, and 11,400 entrepreneurs. We’re ahead of schedule on our goal to train one million people by 2025.
We’re also inspiring the youth in our domestic market of France. Students from Ecole Schneider Electric recently visited CEA Grenoble, a center for low-carbon technology and energy innovation. This was a prize for winning the 2024 Forindustrie challenge in their region – an immersive experience designed to attract youth to industrial careers.
Collaboration = amplification
As part of the YEE’s “New Skills for the Future & Innovation” pillar, we focus on three mutually-supportive goals: building modern skills, accelerating innovation, and scaling social entrepreneurship – all grounded in local needs.
To bring these goals to life, we run innovation competitions, partnerships, green hackathons, blended learning, mentorship tracks, as well as technical and entrepreneurial training.
A standout example is our partnership with NGO Enactus. Operating in 10 countries, including South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, Brazil, and Mexico, over 100,000 students have tackled local challenges with entrepreneurial, sustainability-driven solutions. Schneider Electric employees didn’t just observe; they mentored, coached, and judged – offering real-world insight and support.
But innovation needs infrastructure. Our Educational Solutions Business offers programs built around the needs of Industry 4.0 and the shift to sustainable energy. We run courses for Smart Energy, Smart Buildings, Smart Factories, Digital Blocks, and core technical skills. And by supplying industry-grade, didactic equipment, we let institutions provide practical training in the field of energy.
And while training is essential, we’re also using our corporate weight to persuade policymakers to integrate these new skills into national education. For example, in partnership with German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), we’ve signed agreements with four Indian states to deliver innovation training for electricians and solar technicians, forming part of our GreenSkills+ project. We believe that public-private collaboration is the key to sustained impact.
Leading by example
Where some see a skills gap, we see a skills opportunity. The stats are clear: the energy transition will be won or lost in classrooms and workshops around the world. That’s why we’re preparing the next generation through an ecosystem of careful partnerships, state-of-the-art programs, and long investment in talent. Regions like South Asia, Africa, and Latin America are rising. Let’s ensure their youth rise with them – trained, confident, and ready to sculpt the energy transition.
This World Skills Day, join us for the Igniting Change webinar on July 22 to explore how we can empower 1 million young people for a sustainable future. Let’s bridge the skills gap together and ensure youth everywhere are ready to lead the transition.
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