Latest report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) had underscored the importance of holistic policies and investments as a strong support in building a skilled and diverse workforce.
Report mentions that 2023 witnessed the highest ever increase in renewable energy jobs, from 13.7 million in 2022 to 16.2 million. Adding that the 18% year-on-year leap reflected the strong growth of renewables generating capacities, together with a continued expansion of equipment manufacturing.
China was recorded first with an estimated 7.4 million renewable energy jobs, or 46% of the global total. This was followed by the EU with 1.8 million, Brazil has 1.56 million, and the United States and India, each with close to 1 million jobs.
It adds that the strongest impetus has come, particularly in the past few years, from the rapidly growing solar photovoltaics (PV) sector, which supported 7.2 million jobs globally, 4.6 million of this recorded in China, which has the dominant PV manufacturer and installer. This was besides the significant Chinese investments, which equally aided Southeast Asia’s emergence as an important export hub of solar PV, thereby creating jobs in the region.
Liquid biofuels had the second-largest number of jobs, followed by hydropower and wind. Brazil topped the biofuels ranks, accounting for one third of the world’s 2.8 million jobs in this sector. Soaring production put Indonesia in second, with a quarter of global biofuels jobs, data had shown.
Due to a slowdown in deployment, hydropower became an outlier to the overall growth trend, with the number of direct jobs estimated to have shrunk from 2.5 million in 2022 to 2.3 million. China, India, Brazil, Vietnam and Pakistan were the largest employers in the industry, report also showed.
In the wind sector, China and Europe remain dominant. As leaders in turbine manufacturing and installations, they have contributed 52% and 21% to the global total of 1.5 million jobs, respectively.
And Africa has continued, despite immense resource potential, to receive only a small share of global renewables investments, which translated into a total of 324,000 renewables jobs in 2023. For regions in urgent need of reliable and sustainable energy access like Africa, and especially in remote areas the report highlights, decentralized renewable energy (DRE) solutions – stand-alone systems that are not connected to the utility grids – present an opportunity to both plug the access gap and generate jobs. Removing barriers for women to start entrepreneurship initiatives in DRE can stimulate the sector, resulting in improved local economies and energy equity, the report said.
Acknowledging the high degree of geographic concentration, Francesco La Camera, IRENA Director-General, said, “The story of the energy transition and its socio-economic gains should not be about one or two regions. If we are all to fulfil our collective pledge to triple renewable power capacity by 2030, the world must step up its game and support marginalized regions in addressing barriers impeding their transitions progress. Strengthened international collaboration can mobilize increased finance towards policy support and capacity building in countries that are yet to benefit from renewables job creation.”
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