The impact of job reductions or redefinitions on the job market in OECD countries is expected to be moderate, as sectors that account for 80% of their emissions employ 8% of the total workforce.152 On average, 7.5% of jobs in the EU27 are in brown sectors (Figure 13). The effects of job creation will be different across member states with countries such as Germany, Spain, Italy and France expecting higher net job creation. The share of brown jobs in the total job market exceeds the EU average in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovenia.153,154,155 Around 200,000 people are employed in the coal sector across Bulgaria, Czechia, Greece, Poland, Romania and Slovenia, with more than half based in Poland.156 As the European country with the highest number of brown sector jobs, Poland can expect no net new job creation due to the substantial job losses expected in this sector.157 Brown employment Coal employment Coal % Brown and coal %Poland Germany Italy France Spain Romania Greece Czech Republic Netherlands Hungary Bulgaria Austria Portugal Croatia Slovakia Sweden Finland Ireland Denmark Lithuania Slovenia Latvia Estonia Cyprus Luxembourg MaltaNumber of employees (millions)Employees percentage 02.5 18% 2 1.5 1 0.512% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0%14%16%BelgiumBrown and coal sector employment in the EU in 2021 FIGURE 13 Source: Accenture analysis; Vandeplas, A., Vanyolos, I., Vigani, M., Vogel, L. (2022). The possible implication of the green transition for the EU labour market (Discussion Paper No. 176). European Commission; Eurostat. (2024). Employment and activity by sex and age - annual data. By 2035, the job market in the EU is expected to grow by 2%, by around 6.5 million jobs. Sectors with the highest growth potential are professional services, transport and manufacturing. Around one quarter of new jobs are expected to require technical skills that are common among brown sector workers. Some European regions with the highest share of brown sector jobs will have an abundance of engineering and technical talent that can do these jobs, as evidenced by companies increasingly opening manufacturing plants in Czechia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.158 Additionally, in the brown sector there is a large pool of engineers and technicians who could be reskilled. Efforts to re-skill such workers have already started in Poland, where former coal miners are being trained to become wind technicians.159 Delivering on the European Green Deal: A Private Sector Perspective 27

Delivering on the European Green Deal A Private Sector Perspective 2025