Deliverable 10.2 Definition of the competences and skills for sustainability and environmental impact awareness and a set of training modules

Environmental sustainability and energy efficiency in digital research infrastructures (RIs) require specialized competences and skills to support the design, development, and operation of sustainable digital services, applications, and infrastructures, and beyond this need, to raise awareness among general researchers. This deliverable presents the initial results from Task 10.4 – Training curricula development based on required skills for users, developers, and managers. It provides an overview and analysis of existing competence frameworks related to sustainability, identifies gaps in technical competences for RI sustainability, and outlines training modules to address these needs.

While existing Green Competence Frameworks focus on general sustainability awareness and behavioural aspects, they lack the necessary technical skills for the sustainable development and operation of modern digital infrastructures. The GreenDIGIT project aims to bridge this gap by defining the necessary technical and engineering competences required for sustainability in RIs. These competences align with the Reference Architecture for Sustainability and Sustainable Architecture Design Principles developed in GreenDIGIT’s WP4 and WP5, ensuring the best practices in system and software engineering are integrated into RI operations.

This deliverable defines an initial set of training modules and curricula topics tailored to different RI stakeholders, including researchers, developers, operators, managers, and general users. The training will be delivered through GreenDIGIT summer schools, researcher and developer events, and RI-focused courses. The topics also cover the effective use of digital tools and technologies developed within the project.

The work in WP10 and Task 10.4 was conducted in close collaboration with other work packages, particularly those focused on sustainability policies (WP3, WP8) and architectural development (WP4, WP5). The report includes a reference to sustainability-related policies and regulations, an analysis of the current university programs covering sustainability elements, and an overview of job market demands for green competences, utilizing the EDISON Data Science Framework (EDSF) methodology.

The deliverable is structured as follows:

• Chapter 2 reviews sustainability-related policies, competence frameworks, and related studies.
• Chapter 3 defines green and sustainability-related competences, incorporating the GreenDIGIT architecture framework and Sustainable Architecture Design Principles for defining technical competences in sustainability.
• Chapter 4 examines existing university programs with sustainability components.
• Chapter 5 presents the proposed training modules and learning units, designed for diverse RI professional (developers, operators, management) and user groups.

By establishing a structured approach to sustainability-related competences and training, this deliverable contributes to enabling digital RIs to achieve sustainable and energy-efficient operation, in alignment with ESFRI Roadmap 2026 environmental sustainability policy goals.