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Europe's furniture sector is facing a growing mismatch between the green skills its companies urgently need and the supply of professionals equipped to deliver them. According to the LinkedIn Global Green Skills Report 2022, open roles across EU industries requiring green skills have grown at approximately 8% per year since 2015, while the pool of workers with relevant competences has expanded at only around 6% annually. This gap is particularly acute in traditional manufacturing sectors such as furniture, where the twin pressures of circular economy regulation and digital transformation are intensifying the demand for new professional profiles.

As part of the dissemination activities of the CirCLER project, the Circular Economy Transition Manager (CETM) training course has been integrated into the complementary Passion in Action courses at Politecnico di Milano. The initiative is promoted by the Department of Design, a project partner, and contributes to the dissemination of competences related to the circular and regenerative transition in the furniture sector.

The Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Education and Training (CPI) has prepared a structured work plan enabling partners to follow a unified approach when developing national Recognition Pathways. These drafts include concise overviews of legislation, national qualification frameworks, rules for recognising non-formal learning and micro-credentials, as well as other mechanisms relevant to integrating CETM into national VET systems.

Modules 8 and 9 of the CirCLER Training Course (https://circlercourse.eu/) 

Module 8 "Manufacturing Processes" focuses on understanding and transforming production systems to align operational efficiency with circular economy principles, integrating sustainability into daily industrial practice rather than treating it as a separate or secondary objective. The module examines how manufacturing can evolve from linear production patterns towards more resource-efficient and regenerative models within the furniture sector.