Wind sector commits to strengthening Europe’s literacy to boost skills and fight disinformation

WindEurope has joined the European Literacy Coalition. The Coalition was formally launched in Brussels on 22 September. It brings together organisations from across Europe to strengthen literacy in all its forms. For the wind industry, this is about skills, competitiveness and Europe’s resilience to dis- and misinformation.

Europe’s literacy skills are declining. The latest PISA results show that average reading scores across OECD countries fell by 28 points between 2015 and 2025. The sharpest decline was in skills that matter greatly in today’s world: evaluating information, connecting different sources and thinking critically about what we read.

This is a competitiveness issue. Europe needs people who can understand information, work with data, solve problems and continue learning throughout their careers. The European wind industry employs 480,000 people today. It will need 600,000 by 2030. Strong literacy skills are essential to building that workforce.

But literacy is no longer only about employability. Europeans face an enormous volume of information every day. Some of it is deliberately created to deceive them.

The wind industry sees the consequences first-hand. WindEurope’s recent report on wind energy dis- and misinformation found that millions of Europeans have been exposed to misleading claims about wind energy. The monitored anti-wind network generated at least tens of millions of views. False and misleading narratives have delayed or stopped projects, put investment and jobs at risk and made Europe’s transition away from imported fossil fuels harder.

Literacy is ultimately a democratic issue. People need to assess sources, interpret evidence and distinguish facts from misleading claims. Without these skills, they cannot make informed choices or participate fully in public debate.

This is why WindEurope has endorsed the Warsaw Memorandum, the founding document of the European Literacy Coalition. The Memorandum calls for a modern understanding of literacy. This includes critical thinking and media, information, digital, and AI literacy. It also calls for long-term cooperation between education, civil society, public authorities and industry.

The Memorandum was formally endorsed at the European Literacy Coalition launch event in Brussels on 22 September. The European Commission set up the Coalition under its Union of Skills and Action Plan on Basic Skills.

WindEurope will now turn this commitment into action. It will focus on three areas:

1. Bring real-world energy challenges into schools. WindEurope will support practical STEM learning. Students should understand how Europe’s energy system works and be encouraged to develop their own solutions.
2. Build resilience to energy dis- and misinformation. WindEurope will help explain how misleading energy narratives spread. It will give learners practical examples to assess claims, interpret data and distinguish evidence from misinformation.
3. Build wider partnerships. WindEurope will work with schools, libraries, municipalities, regions, communities and other industries. Europe can only tackle its literacy challenge through cooperation across sectors and countries.

WindEurope Chief Policy Officer Pierre Tardieu said: “Europe will only remain a great place to live if we preserve what binds us together: literacy. It allows us to understand one another and work together on the complex challenges of our time. It enables people to participate in democratic debate. And it makes our societies more resilient to dis- and misinformation. The wind industry is ready to play its part.”