1 Introduction

Achieving a wide degree of development in the capacities in the construction, energy efficiency and renewable energy sector is key to meeting the challenge of the energy transition in the Europe Union (EU) and all its Member States (MSs), including Spain, on which this chapter focuses.

This matter has been addressed in the so-called Energy Performance Directives (EPBDs) over time in Europe. The EPBD currently in force, Directive (EU) 2018/844 of the European Parliament and the Council, referred to as 2018 EPBD in this book, says that Member States (MSs) “should take into account the need for a clear link between their long-term renovation strategies and pertinent initiatives to promote skills development and education in the construction and energy efficiency sectors” (European Parliament and Council of the European Union 2018). These skills are crucial, as they are part of a broader vision that seeks to share knowledge among all the stakeholders involved in the process of the building stock decarbonization.

To understand the importance of knowledge transfer and technical training in the EU, it is necessary to look at how the issue has been dealt with in the last EPBD proposals. All of them consider this issue as part of the work of a LTRS or National building renovation plan (NBRP) to be developed by the MSs.

Over time, the approach in the EPBDs and related documents has evolved regarding this issue. In Article 2a of the Commission Recommendation (EU) 2019/786 of 8 May 2019 on building renovation (European Commission 2019) (referred to in this book as the 2019 EPBD-related Recommendation) emphasis is placed on enhancing technical and knowledge-related skills within the LTRSs of each MS. However, the scope of the topic is restricted to providing an overview of national initiatives promoting smart technologies, interconnected buildings and communities, as well as skills and education in the construction and energy efficiency sector. The idea is, therefore, to enable technological innovation in relation to the performance of energy issues in buildings, and to promote technical training in these fields to achieve this objective (Table 1).

In the successive versions of the ongoing revision of the EPBD of years 2021, 2022 and 2023 (European Commission 2021; European Commission 2022; European Parliament 2023), the vision is broader encountering points in common with other objectives to be developed by the NBRPs. These documents are referred to in this book as 2021, 2022, and 2023 EPBD Proposal recasts, respectively. Thus, Article 3 1.a of the 2021 EPBD Proposal recast states that the NBRPs should develop “an overview of the national building stock for different types of buildings, building periods and climate zones, based, as appropriate, on statistical surveys and the national database of energy performance certificates in accordance with Article 19, an overview of market barriers and gaps, and an overview of capacities in the building, energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors” (European Commission 2021). It can be observed that the diagnosis related to technical capacities extends in a general way to any process of improvement of the building stock, not only limited to the implementation of advanced digital technologies. Furthermore, the debate on capacity in the construction and energy sectors involves different levels of training for the various actors involved, encompassing both formal training and the specific competencies of these actors. In conclusion, the need for specific professionalization of the technicians and other participants involved in this process is highlighted.

A contribution of the 2021 EPBD Proposal recast is to define specific indicators on skills in its Annex II. The following optional indicators are included in the template provided:

  • Number of:

    • Energy service companies.

    • Construction companies.

    • Architects and engineers.

    • Skilled workers.

    • One-stop-shops.

    • Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMES) in the construction/renovation sector.

  • Projections of the construction workforce:

    • Architects/engineers/skilled workers retired.

    • Architects/engineers/skilled workers entering the market.

    • Young people in the sector.

    • Women in the sector.

In summary, the instruments developed in the 2019 EPBD-related Recommendation and the 2021 EPBD Proposal recast for the future NBRPs allow for the continuous evaluation of the technicians and companies directly involved in the renovation and implementation of renewable energy installations, as well as the stable availability of human capital sufficiently trained to carry out the necessary work.

In the 2023 EPBD Proposal recast, reference to capacities and skills are included in Art 9., in which it is indicated that MSs shall support compliance with minimum energy performance standards by, among others, “setting the framework to ensure that there is a sufficient and qualified workforce to enable the timely implementation of the minimum energy performance standards in accordance with the national building renovation plans, including by means of a strategy to facilitate the professional education of young people and requalification of workers and creation of more attractive employment opportunities” (European Parliament 2023, Art 9 3.ea). Also, in Art 15. 6, it is stated that MSs “shall monitor the availability of skills and skilled professionals in accordance with Article 3 and develop measures and financing to promote education and training programs, including in digital technologies, to facilitate the professional requalification of workers and creation of employment opportunities to ensure that there is a sufficient workforce with the appropriate level of skills corresponding to the needs in the building sector. Member States shall put in place measures to promote participation in such programs, in particular by microenterprises as well as small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and with due regard to the gender dimension. One-stop-shops established pursuant to Article 15a may facilitate access to such programs and the professional reskilling of workers”.

In line with these guidelines, in the 2023 EPBD Proposal recast, the previous set of indicators is enlarged with the following additions:

  • Number of:

    • Training programs and facilities focused on energy renovation.

    • Renewable energy communities and citizen energy communities.

  • Projections of the construction workforce:

    • Installers and/or installation companies of heating systems.

    • Maintenance personnel of heating systems.

  • Overview of implemented and planned policies and measures:

    • addressing skills gaps and mismatches in human capacities, and promoting education, training, upskilling and reskilling in the construction, sector and energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors including with a gender dimension.

The indicators that start with ‘Number of’ and those related to the overview of implemented and planned policies and measures are mandatory, whereas the indicators regarding projections of the construction workforce are optional. Furthermore, the 2023 EPBD Proposal recast also highlights the importance of strengthening the administrative capacity and proposes optional indicators for the areas of worst-performing, minimum energy performance standards, energy poverty, social housing, public buildings, residential (single-family, multi-family), non-residential, industry, renewable energy sources, phase-out of fossil fuels in heating and cooling, whole life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, circular economy and waste, one-stop shops, renovation passports, smart technologies, sustainable mobility in buildings, district and neighborhood approaches, skills, training, awareness campaigns and advisory tools.

In order to understand the development of these guidelines in the Spanish context, an interesting participatory process was carried out that took place between December 2022 and May 2023 to evaluate the development of the Spain’s 2020 LTRS named Long-term strategy for energy renovation in the building sector in Spain (whose acronym in Spanish is ERESEE) (Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda 2020). In this participatory process, the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (MITMA), in charge of developing the ERESEE, set up four working groups (inter-ministerial technicians, technicians with the regional authorities, technicians with local authorities and technicians with sector agents), whose conclusions were summarized in a report (Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda 2023).

In the 2020 ERESEE (Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda 2020), capacities in the construction, energy efficiency and renewable energy sector are included in strategic axis 9, under the category of ‘supply side measures’. This approach is integrated with the aim of professionalizing the economic stakeholders involved in renovation, with the capacity to offer comprehensive solutions. This is aligned with the measures aimed at promoting industrialization, digitalization, and monitoring of retrofitting activity. Specifically, Sects. 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5 refer to training and capacity building processes. Therefore:

  • The initial and continuous training of professionals in the renovation sector regarding new needs (industrialization, digitalization, monitoring, renewable energy installations, etc.) is considered both for initial training and for updating knowledge for already trained technicians. The proposal is to review the intermediate and higher professional training courses and the use of digital courses (MOOCs), public courses and, employment platforms in parallel to formal education. In this section, the experts consider some legislative progress in the incorporation of content in professional training cycles through Royal Decree 921/2022, of October 31, which establishes the Higher Degree Professional Training Specialization Course in Energy Audit and establishes the basic aspects of the curriculum. (Ministry of Education and Vocational Training 2022).

  • The need to more effectively incorporate content related to renovation and energy efficiency into university courses is highlighted. Ensuring that graduates are able to carry out Energy Certifications, Building Assessment Reports and other procedures added to the update in renovation techniques, including energy efficiency, and incorporation of renewable energies into the building.

The recommendations point to the importance of professional associations in the organization of training courses, highlighting that progress has been made in the training of university graduates or professionals undergoing retraining and not so much in the incorporation of improvements in university curricula. It is interesting to note the development of professional and scientific conferences that have been promoted by associations, foundations and other non-educational institutions that give greater transversality to the corporate work of the professional associations (National Environmental Congress, CONAMA Foundation, NATURGY Foundation, Spanish Technical Association of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration, for example). The interest of some regional governments in promoting conferences, courses and conferences is also noteworthy.

Finally, the drafting of support guides for technicians and the promotion of demonstrative pilot actions are proposed as a way of reinforcing the training of technicians. Few are the actions reviewed in the recommendations in this sense (FENERCOM guide, guide for the request of public aid in the PIREP program, which stimulates the renovation of public buildings) (Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda and Green Building Council Spain 2021).

In the case of the open digital tools, are remarkable examples in line with the 2020 ERESEE objectives uch as URBAN 3R (Building Institute of Valencia (IVE) 2022), focused on promoting decision-making support for the design of regeneration plans and strategies on an urban scale, and renUEva: Know and improve your Home (Ministry of transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (2022b)), which allows the approximate calculation of a building's energy consumption, including building improvement options compatible with the set of grants, tax incentives and financing implemented in the context of the Next Generation EU funds for residential renovation. Both tools are promoted by the MITMA. Another case is the Guide to Local Urban Regeneration Strategies developed by MITMA and the 3R City Observatory, which objective is to help local authorities in the drafting of local renovation strategies within the framework of the Spanish Urban Agenda and to contribute to the promotion of regeneration activity in Spain (Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda and 3R City Observatory 2022).

The objective of this chapter is to develop a set of indicators on an overview of the capacities in the construction, energy efficiency and renewable energy sector. The aim is to adjust the intentions of the EPBD directive and of Spain’s 2020 ERESEE to the real availability of data and the particular conditions of the sector in the country and in two regions used as case study, Aragon and the Basque Country. Next, the methodological steps that were taken for this purpose are presented.

2 Methodology

To develop the indicators that allow an overview of the capacities in the construction, energy efficiency and renewable energy sector in Aragon, the Basque Country and Spain, the process indicated in Fig. 1 was followed.

Fig. 1
A flowchart of the indicators template definition involves the following steps. Analyze the state-of-the-art capacities in the construction, proposal of indicators, identification of national and regional sources of information, and deployment of each indicator in the summary template.

Source own creation

Methodology implemented to generate indicators on an overview of the capacities in the construction, energy efficiency and renewable energy sector in Spain, and the regions of Aragon and the Basque Country.

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The first step consisted in the development of a common template for these indicators based on:

  • Indicator:

    • Definition of the indicator.

    • Variables to quantify it and their unit of measurement.

    • Purpose and advantages of implementing this indicator.

  • Information sources:

    • Availability of information to generate this indicator at different scales.

    • Entity responsible for providing this information.

  • Measurement:

    • Measurement method.

    • Methodology.

    • Current possibilities of obtaining it.

    • Information necessary to generate it.

    • Availability and quality of data.

In order to select the capacities in the construction, energy efficiency and renewable energy sector indicators to develop, we considered those which have been suggested in European directives and related documents. For this study, we mainly considered two documents. On one hand, we studied the indicators included in the 2019 EPBD-related Recommendation (European Commission 2019), which was the first document in which a framework of progress indicators to measure the European building stock decarbonization was proposed. On the other hand, we analyzed the indicators included in the 2023 EPBD Proposal recast (European Parliament 2023), which is the document with the last version of the framework of progress indicators. In Table 1, the indicators in both documents for capacities in the construction, energy efficiency and renewable energy sector can be compared. As can be seen in the table, indicators included in the 2023 EPBD Proposal recast are more specific and detailed than those in the 2019 EPBD-related Recommendation.

Table 1 Capacities in the construction, energy efficiency and renewable energy sector indicators included in selected European directives and related documents.
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Because of the extensive array of indicators in the 2023 recast of the EPBD Proposal, we opted to create a simplified version based on the 2019 EPBD-related Recommendation, and in conclusion the following indicators were proposed:

  • Number of buildings equipped with building energy management systems (BEMSs) or similar smart systems per building type (focus on non-residential).

  • Citizens participating in energy communities.

  • Number of graduated students from university courses with focus on energy efficiency and related smart technologies.

  • Number of graduated students from professional/technical training (EPC Certifiers, HVAC Inspectors, etc.).

  • Number of installers skilled in new technologies and working practices.

  • Participation of national universities in international scientific research projects on energy efficiency in building-related topics.

Once the key indicators to cover this topic were identified, the available sources of information were studied and the standard template for each indicator was developed and generated.

Subsequently, a summary template was defined for each indicator with the main points covered in the complete template.

The result of these methodological steps is a list of indicators grouped into three subgroups:

  • The first group refers to the number of buildings with technological innovations that require specific skills on the part of technicians and users when putting them into operation and for their maintenance. Number of buildings equipped with building energy management systems (BEMSs) or similar smart systems per building type (focus on non-residential).

  • The second focuses on users involved in the implementation of renewable energies, that is, in energy communities. Citizens participating in energy communities.

  • Third in available human capital with technical knowledge and training level. Number of graduated students from university courses with focus on energy efficiency and related smart technologies, number of graduated students from professional/technical training, (EPC Certifiers, HVAC Inspectors, etc.), number of installers skilled in new technologies and working practices and participation of national universities in international scientific research projects on energy efficiency in building-related topics.

3 Indicators

3.1 Number of Buildings Equipped with Building Energy Management Systems (BEMSs) or Similar Smart Systems Per Building Type (Focus on Non-Residential)

The purpose of this indicator is to quantify buildings with smart systems that enable more efficient use of energy. In Table 2 the main variable considered and the developability is indicated, no sources were found that compile this indicator.

Table 2 Variables and indicator developability. Number of buildings equipped with BEMS or similar smart systems per building type (focus on non-residential).
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3.2 Citizens Participating in Energy Communities

The purpose of this indicator is to quantify the creation of energy communities in municipalities with less than 5000 inhabitants in areas known as ‘La España Vaciada’ (Emptied Spain). In Table 3 the main variable considered and the developability is indicated, no sources were found that compile this indicator.

Table 3 Variables and indicator developability. Citizens participating in energy communities.
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3.3 Number of Graduated Students from University Courses with Focus on Energy Efficiency and Related Smart Technologies

The purpose of this indicator is to estimate the number of university graduates in studies focusing on energy efficiency and related smart technologies. For the development of this indicator there are national and regional data sources available (Table 4).

Table 4 Sources for indicator. Number of graduated students from university courses with focus on energy efficiency and related smart technologies.
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The published data cannot be filtered by energy efficiency-related degrees, so openly published information needs to be screened. This screening has to be done manually and entails the complexity of having to subjectively estimate which degrees are indeed related to energy efficiency and which are not, without having in-depth knowledge on the full curricula of each one.

Information on the specific university degrees from each of the universities does not include data on doctorates, making it impossible to refine the results for this level of education. Moreover, as a manual selection of energy efficiency-related degrees in each of the Spanish universities has to be made, obtaining national results would require an enormous amount of data analysis.

For these reasons the variable for this indicator is the number of graduates from Bachelor degrees, Master degrees, PhD, University Expert/Specialist Course/Diploma and similar in different regions of Spain.

Figures 2 and 3 show the graduates from universities of the regions of Aragon and the Basque Country respectively. As can be observed, there is no homogeneity in the selection of studies with data available in the two regions, so comparison cannot be as accurate as it should, and an assessment on a national scale requires the development of a more refined study that is not part of the scope of this chapter.

Fig. 2
A grouped bar chart illustrates the number of graduates versus the academic year. The two highest bars for Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from 2015 to 2016 to 2019 to 2020 have values of 131 and 93, 101 and 124, 81 and 101, 86 and 126, 78 and 116, respectively.

Source own creation from data in (Government of Aragon 2022)

Graduates from universities of the region of Aragon.

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Fig. 3
A grouped bar chart illustrates the number of graduates versus the academic year. The two highest bars for Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Energy and Power Electronics from 2015 to 2016 to 2019 to 2020 have values of 113 and 85, 173 and 84, 131 and 81, 103 and 87, 127 and 106, respectively.

Source own creation from data in (Basque Institute of Statistics 2023)

Graduates from universities in the Basque Country.

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3.4 Number of Graduated Students from Professional/Technical Training (EPC Certifiers, HVAC Inspectors, Etc.)

The purpose of this indicator is to know the number of technicians currently trained in energy efficiency, as this is a scarce but highly demanded professional profile that is crucial to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. For the development of this indicator there are national and regional data sources available (Table 5).

Table 5 Sources for indicator number of graduated students from professional/technical training (EPC certifiers, HVAC inspectors, etc.).
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The published data cannot be filtered by energy efficiency-related qualifications, so openly published information needs to be screened. In some cases, it is easy to identify qualifications that have an important energy efficiency component, such as in the professional study area ‘energy and water’. However, in the rest of the professional study areas and sectors, identifying these qualifications is more complex.

As with the previous indicator, no data were found for specialization courses, which may be of great interest for specific training modules such as energy assessor or auditor courses.

The reader is referred to the website of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation of Spain for details regarding the number of graduated students from professional training across Spain, including the regions of Aragon and the Basque Country. Reproduction of this information necessitates specific permission, which we did not acquired. Data on specialization courses and on basic vocational training is non-available either, as no qualifications related to energy efficiency in buildings were identified.

3.5 Number of Installers Skilled in New Technologies and Working Practices

The purpose of this indicator is to know the number of installers and technicians currently working in the strategic areas explained in the previous section. They have a very important role to play in achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. For the development of this indicator there are national and regional data sources available (Table 6).

Table 6 Sources for indicator. Number of installers skilled in new technologies and working practices.
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In the Register of Installers in the Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence area, the link of each company or installer must be opened to view the services they offer, and it is not possible to filter by discipline.

Furthermore, none of the registers provided information on companies or professionals that specialize in energy efficiency in buildings, in the installation of renewable energy production systems or in other new professional practices related to buildings. It is therefore considered that industrial registers should provide new categories to accommodate these newer but established professions.

In fact, with the available data it was not possible to fully respond to the variables proposed for this indicator, which also come from the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan.

The reader is referred to the webpage of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation of Spain to obtain the information on the number of installers skilled in the field of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence in Spain and the regions of Aragon and the Basque Country. A specific permission is required to reproduce this information, which we did not obtain. For the same reason, the reader is also referred to the webpage of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism of Spain to see the data on number of companies or installers of thermal installations in buildings and of fire protection in Spain and the regions of Aragon and the Basque Country.

3.6 Participation of National Universities in International Scientific Research Projects on Energy Efficiency in Buildings-Related Topics

The purpose of this indicator is to understand the implication of universities in international research related to energy saving in the building sector and the development of this research. Therefore, the evolution of research institutions on energy efficiency in building-related topics can therefore be analyzed through several key variables. Through this indicator it may be possible to assess the progress of international projects related to the energy efficiency of buildings, as well as their relevance for national universities. For the development of this indicator there is indirect information from national and regional data sources (Table 7). Due to the fragmentation of the related data across the different university Vice-Rectorates, Departments or Offices, it is not feasible to create the indicator in a direct and effective way. There are no data at the national level.

Table 7 Sources for indicator. Participation of national universities in international scientific research projects on energy efficiency in buildings-related topics.
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4 Conclusions

The situation regarding skills and training in the construction, energy efficiency and renewable energy sector in Spain was analyzed using data provided by each indicator, focusing on two case study regions, Aragon and the Basque Country.

The conclusions of this analysis are summarized in the following points:

  1. (1)

    Regarding the situation of buildings with smart systems that enable more efficient use of energy, and the consequent technical training that allows agents to adequately manage resources linked to building, no sources were found to obtain information related to the proposed indicator, and, therefore, no variables were proposed for this indicator.

  2. (2)

    A similar situation arises in the evaluation of the implementation of energy communities at national, regional, and local level. It is also not possible to describe and diagnose the link between energy efficiency and renewable energies.

  3. (3)

    The third subgroup of indicators refers to the state of formal education and training of professionals. These yield some conclusions:

    • Firstly, it is necessary to consider the heterogeneity in the publication of data at national and regional level (for the specific cases of Aragon and the Basque Country). The information provided by the regional governments, who have competences in education, has a higher level of disaggregation.

    • Analyzing the data on graduates from university studies in Aragon and the Basque Country, it can be seen that between 2015 and 2020 the percentage of people who were trained in studies related to energy efficiency in buildings and renewable energies ranges from 1.18% to 1.28% of the university population in Aragon (the average is 1.19%) and, in the case of the Basque Country, this range varies between 1.21% and 1.40% (the average is 1.29%). If we extrapolate these data to the Spanish university graduate population (241,157 in 2021), we should have a number of graduates that could join the sector of between 2862 and 3105 professionals with academic studies.

    • Concerning Professional Training Specialization Course education, the presence of the sector in this type of training is much greater than in the university sector. The data at national level show a figure of 6453 graduates in the year 2021, which means 33.93% of the total number of people studying this type of studies. This dominant trend is similar in Aragon, although with a proportion of 21.87%, and in the Basque Country, somewhat higher than the Spanish average (34.50%).

    • Regarding the upskilling of professionals by means of training courses, in the three types of training analyzed, at the national level we found values always above 10,000 people who are trained annually in these courses (Digitalization 12,708, Thermal installations 58,717 and Fire protection 32,674). Although we cannot get an idea of the percentage that these figures represent with respect to the volume of students attending these continuous training and professional skills courses, the data seem to indicate that continuous training is an important task for professionals.

    • No data are available on the research projects involved into this training.

As a conclusion, the question that arises is whether the training efforts made are in line with the renovation needs of the sector. To answer this question, the volume of people trained is related to the expected rate of retrofitting in the country. Thus, if we consider that the annual rate of energy renovation of buildings for the next decade amounts to approximately 120,000 dwellings per year, it can be considered that the number of projects for professionals in complete buildings of 20 dwellings (on average approximately) requires the drafting of 6000 projects per year. If only university graduates with specific training in the sector are counted, it can be considered that about 3000 new professionals who can legally develop projects would have to carry out 3 building energy renovation projects per year, which is a plausible figure for medium-sized consultancy firms and professional studios.Footnote 1

Similarly, considering changes in installations as minor projects to be carried out by installers and graduates of Professional Training Specialization Course, we find 4000 graduates of intermediate degrees and 58,000 professionals who have taken specialization courses. That means that, in order to meet the needs of 300,000 homes, each professional must work on 5 or 6 installations per year.

In conclusion, Spain has a substantial amount of data available to gauge the professional capacity of the sector. The provided estimates are simplified, as they overlook active professionals already in the market capable of approving renovation projects. Additionally, they do not differentiate between building types or the diverse professions that could potentially collaborate. Acknowledging these limitations, it can be asserted that existing professional skills are in line with the requirements. However, it is crucial to ensure that university studies and training programs are continuously answering to the changing real needs of the sector. On the other hand, there is a need for increased emphasis on gathering data regarding the adoption of smart technologies, engagement with energy communities, and assessing administrative capacity.