A2ForBois (Avenir Formation Forêt-Bois) is the winner of the "Skills and Jobs of the Future" call for projects and has been awarded €21.3 million in funding, including a €12 million grant from the France 2030 program, starting on May 1, 2025, for a period of five years.

The project was based on the observation that the industry is facing both a recruitment shortage and a large number of retirements in the coming years: the challenge is to ensure that there are enough qualified people to meet the sector's demands, and that they have the skills sought by industrial players, such as knowing how to use new digital tools and taking into account the challenges associated with climate change.

"Forests are essential in the fight against climate change, thanks in particular to their ability to store carbon, thereby helping to control greenhouse gases , " explains James Dat, director of the Campus des Métiers et des Qualifications d'Excellence Forêt-Bois Bourgogne Franche-Comté (Burgundy-Franche-Comté Forestry and Woodworking Excellence Training and Qualifications Campus) and project manager. 

Led and coordinated by Arts et Métiers, the project brings together a consortium of seventeen members representing the forestry and wood industry: educational institutions (Arts et Métiers, EPL Besançon, AgroParisTech Nancy, Institut Agro Dijon, Marie et Louis Pasteur University, Bourgogne Europe University, Institut Européen de Formation Compagnons du Tour de France), operators/employers (Fibois BFC, CFBL, ONF), technical partners (FCBA, UNIT foundation, CMQE Forêt-Bois), institutional partners (DRAAF BFC, Conseil Régional BFC, Rectorat de région académique, Ville de Besançon).

The project also relies on a large network of partners participating in the various project activities (six other public local authorities, sawmills, interprofessional organizations, etc.).  

Boosting the sector  

The findings of the industry's stakeholders are clear: there is an urgent need to take stronger action in terms of training and promoting the professions. With employment expected to grow by 24% over the next five years:

• Graduates from existing training programs cover only 40% of current needs.
• More than a third of places on degree courses remain unfilled, as the perceived difficulty of the profession makes it unattractive.
• Between 30% and 40% of employees in the sector will need to be replaced by 2030 due to numerous retirements.
• Forest decline has increased by nearly 80% in 10 years, fueling the need for companies to develop their skills in order to address environmental challenges.  

To boost the appeal of the forestry and wood industry, the A2ForBois project is focusing on several areas of action. First, there's an awareness and communication component, which aims to promote careers in woodworking to attract more people to training programs. Various initiatives are being implemented, such as the Forest Van, a mobile vehicle that travels around the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Grand Est, and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions to meet with middle school and high school students and teachers.

Another area of focus is to supplement the current training offering and equip institutions, for example by developing educational forest plots or involving professionals as stakeholders in training programs. Particular attention is paid to promoting research as a training tool, with the support of demonstrators and digital twins, among other things.  

Two working groups are also addressing the issue of recruitment, supporting company managers in retaining and developing their employee teams on the one hand, and expanding the sourcing of candidates in the sector on the other, particularly through professional retraining.   

The objectives  

During the five years of the project, A2ForBois:

• Raises awareness and promotes careers in woodworking and forestry to a wide audience of schoolchildren (more than 300,000 young people targeted).
• Presents forestry and wood-related professions to around 150 career guidance professionals and employment advisors each year.
• Enables the upskilling of more than 3,000 continuing vocational training trainees and around 300 company executives.
• Creates and leads training courses to support forestry teachers in the three regions, then a wider network of trainers with the rollout of these modules nationwide.
• Brings together all stakeholders involved in promoting these professions and training

Contacts

Project Manager: Guillaume Lacondemine
Scientific Director: James Dat
Communications Manager: Émilie Dedieu
LinkedIn: @A2ForBois
Instagram: @A2ForBois

Operation supported by the State as part of the "Skills and Jobs of the Future" call for expressions of interest under the France 2030 Program, operated by Caisse des Dépôts (La Banque des Territoires).