Oct. 22, 2021

Renewable energy employment worldwide reached 12 million last year, up from 11.5 million in 2019, according to the eighth edition of Renewable Energy and Jobs by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

The report states that these employment trends are shaped by a multitude of factors. Key among them is the rate at which renewable energy equipment is manufactured, installed and put to use (largely a function of costs and overall investments). Costs, especially of solar and wind technologies, continue to decline.

“With relatively steady annual investments, lower costs have translated into wider deployment. An increase in investments would boost future job creation, even allowing for growing labour productivity. Policy guidance and support remain indispensable for establishing overall renewable energy roadmaps, driving ambition, and encouraging the adoption of transparent and consistent rules for feed-in tariffs, auctions, tax incentives, subsidies, permitting procedures and other regulations”.

The report was released by IRENA in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) at a high-level opening of IRENA’s Collaborative Framework on Just and Inclusive Transitions, co-facilitated by the United States and South Africa.

While solar and wind jobs continued leading global employment growth in the renewable energies sector, accounting for a total of 4 million and 1.25 million jobs respectively, liquid biofuels employment decreased as demand for transport fuels fell. Off-grid solar lighting sales suffered, but companies were able to limit job losses.

Countries and renewable energy job creation

In many countries a cycle was established in which delays were followed by surges of activity. This reflected the newfound reality in which countries’ varying degrees of success in reducing COVID-19 infections alternated with a resurgence of cases. But some of the late surge was also driven by developers rushing projects to meet permitting deadlines (some of which were extended in response to pandemic delays) or reacting to impending changes in policies, such as expiring tax credits, phaseouts of subsidies or cuts in feed-in tariffs.

In a sense, the pandemic further amplified the ups and downs seen in the sector in ordinary years.

China commanded a 39% share of renewable energy jobs worldwide in 2020, followed by Brazil, India, the United States, and members of the European Union. Many other countries are also creating jobs in renewables.

Among them are Viet Nam and Malaysia, key solar PV exporters; Indonesia and Colombia, with large agricultural supply chains for biofuels; and Mexico and the Russian Federation, where wind power is growing. In Sub-Saharan Africa, solar jobs are expanding in diverse countries like Nigeria, Togo, and South Africa.

Francesco la Camera, IRENA Director-General said, “Renewable energy’s ability to create jobs and meet climate goals is beyond doubt. With COP26 in front of us, governments must raise their ambition to reach net-zero. The only path forward is to increase investments in a just and inclusive transition, reaping the full socioeconomic benefits along the way.”

“The potential for renewable energies to generate decent work is a clear indication that we do not have to choose between environmental sustainability on the one hand and employment creation on the other. The two can go hand-in-hand,” said ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder.

Recognizing that women suffered more from the pandemic because they tend to work in sectors more vulnerable to economic shocks, the report highlights the importance of a just transition and decent jobs for all, ensuring that jobs pay a living wage, workplaces are safe, and rights at work are respected.

A just transition requires a workforce that is diverse – with equal chances for women and men, and with career paths open to youth, minorities, and marginalized groups. International Labour Standards and collective bargaining arrangements are crucial in this context.

Fulfilling the renewable energy jobs potential will depend on ambitious policies to drive the energy transition in the coming decades. In addition to deployment, enabling, and integrating policies for the sector itself, there is a need to overcome structural barriers in the wider economy and minimize potential misalignments between job losses and gains during the transition.

Indeed, IRENA and ILO’s work finds that more jobs will be gained by the energy transition than lost. An ILO global sustainability scenario to 2030 estimates that the 24-25 million new jobs will far surpass losses of between six and seven million jobs.

Some five million of the workers who lose their jobs will be able to find new jobs in the same occupation in another industry. IRENA’s World Energy Transition Outlook forecasts that the renewable energy sector could employ 43 million by 2050.