European trade unions, represented by industriAll European trade union, employers, represented by CEEMET (as supporters of the project), and industry associations, represented by Cecimo and EUnited, have jointly investigated the long-term effects (until 2030-2035) of these environmental sustainability policies on employment and skills in the sectors of Machine tools and Robotics. With this anticipation of change, they intend to attain a smooth transition to sustainability for all workers, and long-term, quality-based competitiveness for employers and industry. IndustriAll Europe, CEEMET and EUnited consider this project a pilot of methods that could serve as inspiration for other industrial sectors.

As regards skills, the project identified the fact that new technical skills (e.g. light-weighting, energy management) are needed, but also "soft" skills (e.g. cooperation). On the employment side, the overall anticipated effects of environmental sustainability policies are not expected to be that high (provided some conditions are met), but some shifts in jobs between companies and application markets can be expected.

industriAll Europe calls for early social dialogue at company and sector level to better cope with these changes. Timely dialogue and in-depth consultation with workers and their trade unions are necessary conditions to deal with these upcoming challenges.

The project concludes with a set of recommendations to improve the capacity of the Machine Tools and Robotics sectors to cope with these anticipated changes, for the benefit of workers, of employers and of industry as a whole.

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