"Buildings are the major source of global demand for energy and materials that produce by-product greenhouse gases (GHG). Slowing and reversing the growth rate of GHG emissions is crucial to address climate change. One key way to reduce and, ultimately, phase out the greenhouse gases produced by the construction industry is transforming the way buildings are designed, built, and operated, as stated at the Europe 2020 Strategy. To reach climate 2020 goals within the construction industry the need to improve skills of all workers in relation to energy efficient and environmentally-friendly processes, materials and technologies is widely acknowledged. Vocational teachers hold a crucial role for the transfer of knowledge to current and future workers at the construction sector, as a great part of its labour force comes from VET pathways. For that reason, BuS.Trainers’ goal is to design and provide ‘green training’ to Vocational trainers to overcome skills mismatch and boost sustainability in the construction sector. Based on existing evidences, building up VET trainers’ skills in Energy Efficiency and Renewable energies is the required breakthrough to address the weak link between education and green innovation in the sector, because of the effect of this occupational profile in the whole training supply chain.With the main objective of jointly develop and deliver a thorough training system for Vocational Trainers to better perform teaching in sustainable construction, several interconnected activities have been implemented:*Research and analysis of green skills demands (labour market and EU policies) and related skills gaps in the occupational profile ‘VET trainers of construction industry’: Report on skills gap (WP2).*Design of a new qualification based on skills needs identified: “Eco-Trainer in the construction industry"" qualification (WP3), a trans-national and sectoral qualification for VET trainers in the construction industry, directed towards sustainable and efficient construction in South Europe.*Learning outcome-oriented modularity of the qualification, with 8 modules in a total of 200 learning hours, which allows partial or total accreditation, as well as accreditation through prior learning/experience by means of ECVET (WP3).*Definition of learning outcomes, assessment method and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) following the EQF methodology and underpinned with EQAVET principles (WP4).*Deveolpment of the Eco-trainers online course (WP5).*Development of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the sustainability of the course and its accreditation system (WP6). *Addition of the Eco-trainers course into the Official Maltese Qualification system, thus becoming an official curricula (WP6).*Delivery of the training course for testing the product for a better adjustment to final users –trainers, with the enrolment of more than 170 trainers (WP7).*Involvement of stakeholders at local Info-days and endorsement seminars, paving the way for the uptake of project outcomes, generating interest, raising awareness and attracting attention of key actors, target groups and industry in general (WP8).*Dissemination actions to spread project results and share solutions, enabling a wider community to take advantage from EU funding (WP9).The project shows a positive impact on VET providers enhancing the quality and adequacy of their trainings/classes portfolio and their net of trainers, on vocational trainers that will upgrade their teaching skills according to market needs, on VET trainees and workers who will receive up-to-date knowledge in green skills, on companies who will have better skilled workforce and, finally, on the rest of industry and society who will benefit from the added value of cooperation in green curricula design and delivery to address climate change."

Aiming at decarbonising the energy systems of geographical islands, MAESHA will deploy the necessary flexibility, storage and energy management solutions for a large penetration of Renewable Energies. Cutting-edge technical systems will be developed and installed, supported by efficient modelling tools and adapted local markets and business frameworks. A community-based approach will be adopted to ensure the constant consideration of local populations’ best interests throughout the project. Putting together 10 SMEs, 3 industrial partners, 2 universities and 6 public organisations from 9 countries, MAESHA gathers strong partners with the needed expertise to develop and disseminate relevant solutions for a universally beneficial energy transition on islands. After establishing the proper use-cases and architecture designs to ensure interoperability (WP1), MAESHA will develop modelling tools from real-time to long-term energy-economy observations (WP2) together with adapted business, market and regulatory frameworks (WP4). In parallel the community-based approach will be launched (WP3). All these activities lay the foundation for the technical development of management systems for aggregating flexibility (WP5) and devices based on synergies with assets of the territories (WP6), optimised together through a flexibility aggregating platform (WP7). After systems integration (WP8), the solutions will be fully demonstrated on Mayotte (WP10) and their replicabilities will be studied in five follower islands (WP10). Dedicated WPs for communication, dissemination (WP11) and management (WP12) will maximize the impacts. With its activities, MAESHA is expected to lead to at least 70% RE penetration and reach more than 90% of Mayotte’s population. Through its strong local implantation and the focus put on replication and dissemination activities, MAESHA will deeply modify insular energy features throughout Europe and its impacts will be felt far beyond the project’s framework.