Workers trained in green-tech are essential to meeting the demands of the green economy.

Efforts must be made to incorporate changes into training practices, revise training programmes and introduce new ones so as to ensure the employability of workers in a rapidly changing world. The green transition is generating far more demand for upgraded skills in established occupations than it is creating brand new occupations (ILO et al., 2013). In both cases, as green markets evolve and mature, there is an increasing tendency for the related jobs to require more specialized and better-skilled personnel, preferably with formal qualifications. While the initial training system has a role in bringing in a new generation of professionals well prepared for the opportunities and challenges of the twenty first century, continuing training is essential to ensure that those already in work adjust to the rapidly evolving and urgent demands of the green economy. The timeliness or the lack thereof with which TVET systems respond to sustainability concerns and the demand for related skills can put these systems in a virtuous cycle of interaction with the labour market, or alternatively widen the disconnect between the demand for and the supply of skills. A demand-driven approach to greening skills is therefore necessary: the needs of the economic market in terms of jobs and skills must be identified and then answered through appropriate training offers, with the final aim being to ensure the employability of professionals and future professionals in the green economy. However, despite recent changes, many employers still have a lack of knowledge on sustainability related skills and do not explicitly demand such skills or qualifications from their employees (Strietska-Ilina et al., 2011). This is why the TVET system should not be limited to being a mere supplier satisfying economic demands. It also has a responsibility and opportunity to help generate a new generation of workers and entrepreneurs willing and able to frame an economic model adhering to the principles of sustainable development, in a way that fits the national political orientation (Majumdar, 2010). Moving towards sustainability while improving the quality and status of TVET requires innovative and transformational leaders in all policy, economic and educational spheres who can seize the opportunities to create a new vision for twenty-first century skills, jobs, economies and societies.