The recent online event “Sustainable and Green Career Guidance in Social and Ecological Crisis – Perspectives from Central and Eastern Europe” offered more than just a discussion about career development – it was a call to action. Held in June 2025 by the Central and Eastern European Guidance Forum, the gathering brought together professionals and educators from Slovakia, Hungary, Czechia, and Romania to reflect on how career guidance should evolve amid the converging climate, social, and economic crises affecting the region.
At the heart of the event was a fundamental provocation: career guidance cannot remain neutral or technocratic in the face of ecological breakdown and deepening inequalities. It must become a force for transformation—one that not only helps individuals navigate change, but also contributes to building more just, sustainable, and meaningful futures.
Two Paths: Adaptive vs. Transformative Guidance
The event framed two competing paradigms. The “adaptive” approach accepts the status quo and focuses on helping individuals acquire “green skills” for emerging sectors—solar energy, green construction, waste management. In contrast, the “transformative” approach challenges the underlying systems that generate both inequality and environmental collapse. It invites people to imagine alternative economic and social futures and supports career choices that align with solidarity, community well-being, and planetary care.
As Hungarian researcher Borbély-Pecze noted, we cannot understand the sustainability of labour markets solely through economic indicators. We must examine the deeper balance – or imbalance – between human societies and their environments. Echoing this, Plant described green guidance as “proactive, questioning, reflexive, and human-centred in the real sense.”
The Climate-Career Paradox in CEE
One of the major insights of the event was the unique vulnerability of Central and Eastern Europe in the green transition. These countries—often with carbon-intensive economies, aging infrastructures, and weaker social safety nets—face disproportionate labour market disruptions. Yet, paradoxically, public discourse around climate remains fragile or polarised.
In Czechia, for example, 22.8% of workers are already in jobs contributing to environmental goals—above the OECD average. Yet a severe shortage of green-skilled professionals persists. While over 80% of people have experienced extreme weather, only 30% consider climate adaptation a national priority.
Hungary presents another paradox. While the country has adopted ambitious climate legislation, its education system remains underfunded, centralised, and ideologically coloured. Public support for green job training exists, but systemic barriers and mistrust slow progress.
Romania is still in the early stages of embedding green career guidance into national policy, though promising steps have been taken. Strategies like the 2023–2030 National Strategy for Environmental and Climate Change Education are creating a policy framework—but guidance practitioners remain overburdened and underprepared. Successful pilots like RenewAcad and youth volunteering through MaiMultVerde demonstrate what’s possible when resources and commitment align.
In Slovakia, nearly 20% of workers are in carbon-intensive sectors. While 70% of people express concern over climate change, misinformation and scepticism are on the rise. National reskilling programs like “Skills for Labour Market” and Just Transition initiatives in the Horná Nitra coal region are underway, but implementation challenges remain.
Practice-Based Innovations: From Classrooms to Communities
The event didn’t only map problems – it showcased solutions. Slovak schools are piloting green career guidance modules tailored for young pupils, with video-based profiles of sustainable careers such as environmental law, water management, circular economy, and eco-innovation. Monika Bečkeiová (CPPP Veľký Krtíš, Slovakia) introduced methods for integrating green guidance into elementary schools, focusing on sustainability and inclusion. Gergély Kiss (Miénk a Pálya, Hungary) presented a high school programme combining labour market insight with ethical and environmental literacy. In Czechia, tools developed by EKS offer participatory guidance methods that combine labour market information with emotional literacy and ecological awareness. Eva Kavková (EKS, Czechia) shared practical, interactive tools to support a critical and socially responsive green guidance curriculum.
Across the board, participants emphasised that guidance must go beyond skill-matching. It must help people slow down, connect with their values, listen to their bodies, and reflect on the kind of world they wish to help shape. It must be capable of asking questions like: What kind of life is worth pursuing? How can my work contribute to a thriving society and planet?
From Greening Guidance to Green Guidance
A key distinction emerged: “greening guidance” adds sustainability as a theme or topic within existing practices. “Green guidance,” by contrast, redefines the very purpose and ethics of guidance itself. It becomes a space of critical reflection, social imagination, and hope.
Participants were invited to take the first step, however small, toward greening their own practice. Whether it’s redesigning materials to reflect sustainability goals, incorporating nature-based reflection, or developing new tools with students, the message was clear: we all have a role to play. As the effects of climate change accelerate, career guidance in Central and Eastern Europe cannot remain business as usual. This event offered a vision of what that could look like: guidance that is not only about navigating the future, but about shaping it.
You can download the slides on this link.