Bridging Skills and Jobs in the Green Transition: Gi Group Holding supports UniCredit and POLIMI GSoM initiative
Gi Group Holding is supporting the “Skills for Transition” programme, fully funded by UniCredit and developed by POLIMI Graduate School of Management, aimed at equipping talent across Europe with the skills required for the green transition.
As the shift towards a more sustainable economy accelerates, demand for new competencies is reshaping labour markets across Europe. The programme has been designed to address this gap, providing focused education on skills for Net Zero sectors and sustainable business transformation.
With an international scope, the programme involves participants from multiple European countries and aims to develop a new generation of professionals ready to contribute to the ecological transformation of industries and organisations.
Beyond education, the initiative connects learning with employment opportunities, supporting both individual career development and evolving business needs.
Within this framework, Gi Group Holding contributes as a strategic partner, supporting the employability of participants and helping translate newly acquired skills into real job opportunities.
Leveraging its labour market expertise and employer network, the Group facilitates connections between trained talent and companies, ensuring alignment between skills development and market demand.
This approach reflects Gi Group Holding’s broader commitment to Sustainable Work, promoting employability, inclusion, and long-term career development while supporting organisations in navigating workforce transformation.
Discover more about the “Skills for Transition” programme.
We are delighted to welcome the support of Gi Group Holding in a project that is highly strategic for us. Addressing the skills required for the green transition at a European level means aligning education, employability and labour market needs across countries and industries. Gi Group Holding’s contribution strengthens the programme’s ability to turn advanced skills into real career opportunities, enhancing its impact on talent development and workforce transformation across Europe
To further explore the role of skills development in supporting the green transition, we spoke with Francesco Baroni, our Chief Regional Officer – Italy, about the reasons behind Gi Group Holding’s partnership, the Group’s contribution to the programme, and the key actions organisations should take to address future workforce challenges.
Why did you choose to become a partner?
We joined the ‘Skills for Transition’ programme because we see the green transition as fundamentally a talent transformation challenge. Across Europe, companies are already facing a growing mismatch between the skills they need and the talent available, particularly in areas linked to sustainability, digitalisation, and industrial transformation. At the same time, there is a significant pool of people ready to reskill, upskill, or reposition their careers.
Developed by UniCredit and POLIMI Graduate School of Management, the “Skills for Transition” programme directly addresses both sides of this equation. It reflects a shared ambition to connect education with real labour market demand and to ensure that sustainability is not only a strategic priority, but also a source of new career opportunities and employability.
For us, this initiative represents a practical way to support workforce transition by helping people build skills that are increasingly relevant across industries and by strengthening the connection between learning and long-term employability.
What is your role within the programme?
Our role is to ensure that the link between training and employment is practical, measurable, and scalable. We contribute by bringing labour market insight, access to employers, and the ability to activate talent across multiple European markets.
This includes identifying in-demand roles, supporting candidate readiness, and facilitating connections between participants and companies across sectors that are advancing sustainability and the green transition. Participants gain exposure not only to sustainability-related knowledge, but also to real business contexts, employer expectations, and emerging career opportunities linked to the transition economy.
In essence, we help translate newly acquired skills into tangible career and employability outcomes, ensuring that the programme delivers not only learning outcomes, but also real pathways into the labour market. Through our partnership with UniCredit and POLIMI Graduate School of Management, we also support stronger alignment between skills development and evolving workforce needs across Europe.
Looking ahead, what are your expectations and what should companies do?
Our expectation is that programmes like “Skills for Transition” will demonstrate how the green transition can be translated into workforce reality, not just ambition. For companies, the message is clear: the transition will not be delivered by strategy alone. It requires a fundamental shift in how organisations approach skills, workforce planning, and access to talent.
This means investing in reskilling at scale, opening up to more diverse and non-linear career paths, and working more closely with education partners to build future-ready talent pipelines.
The organisations moving fastest today are often not those with the biggest sustainability ambitions on paper, but those already investing in the skills and workforce models required to deliver them. Beyond supporting a more sustainable economy, this will increasingly become a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining talent.
