Record high: job growth in the renewable energies sector

However, a closer look at the data in the report reveals a mixed overall picture. China alone installed almost two thirds of the world's new solar and wind power capacity last year.

China takes first place with around 7.4 million jobs in the renewable energy sector, i.e. 46% of the global total. It is followed by the EU with 1.8 million, Brazil with 1.56 million and the USA on a par with India with just under 1 million jobs each.

As in previous years, the strongest impetus came from the rapidly growing photovoltaic (PV) sector, which created 7.2 million jobs worldwide. China, the leading manufacturer and installer of PV systems, accounted for 4.6 million of these. Thanks to considerable investment by China, South East Asia has become an important export hub for photovoltaics and is creating jobs in the region.

The second largest number of jobs was recorded in liquid biofuels, followed by hydropower and wind power. The leader in biofuels is Brazil, which accounts for a third of the 2.8 million jobs in this sector worldwide. Indonesia, with its rapidly increasing production, accounts for a quarter of global jobs in the biofuels sector, putting it in second place.

One outlier in the general growth trend, due to the slowdown in expansion, is hydropower with a decline in direct jobs from around 2.5 million in 2022 to 2.3 million. China, India, Brazil, Vietnam and Pakistan were the largest employers in the sector.

China and Europe hold the leading position in the wind power sector. They dominate the manufacture and installation of turbines and contributed 52 % and 21 % respectively to the total of 1.5 million jobs worldwide.

Despite its enormous resource potential, Africa still accounts for only a small share of global investment in renewable energy, which translated into a total of 324,000 jobs in the renewable energy sector in 2023. In regions like Africa that urgently need secure and sustainable access to energy, especially in remote areas, decentralized renewable energy (DRE) solutions - self-sufficient systems that are not connected to utility grids - could both close the access gap and create jobs. Removing barriers to women's entrepreneurship in DRE can boost the sector and improve local economies and energy equity.

Francesco La Camera, Director General of IRENA, commented on the high geographical concentration as follows: "The energy transition and its socio-economic benefits must not be limited to one or two regions. If we truly want to deliver on our collective promise to triple renewable energy generation capacity by 2030, the world needs to step up its efforts and support marginalized regions in removing barriers to their energy transition. Increased international cooperation can mobilize more funding for policy support and capacity building in countries that are not yet benefiting from renewable energy job creation."

To meet the growing demand for diverse skilled workers in the context of the energy transition, policymakers need to support measures for a more diverse workforce and better gender equality. With women accounting for 32 % of the total number of employees in the renewable energy sector, the gender balance in this sector remains unbalanced, even though the number of jobs is steadily increasing. It is an essential task of education and training to create diverse employment opportunities for women, young people and members of minorities and disadvantaged groups.

"Investing in education, skills development and training can retrain all workers from the fossil fuel sectors, address gender and other inequalities and prepare workers for new roles in the clean energy sector. This is essential to equip workers with the knowledge and skills needed for a decent job and to ensure a just and sustainable energy transition. We have committed to a sustainable energy transition by signing the Paris Agreement, said Gilbert F. Houngbo, Director-General of the ILO.

The 11th edition of the Annual Review is part of IRENA's comprehensive analysis of the socio-economic impacts of an energy transition based on renewable energy. This edition - now the 4th edition produced jointly with the ILO - highlights the importance of a people- and environment-centered approach to enable an equitable and inclusive energy transition. It calls for holistic policy frameworks that go beyond the pursuit of technological innovation to achieve the goal of tripling quickly and at the lowest possible cost, as well as prioritizing local value creation, ensuring the creation of decent jobs and building on the active participation of workers and communities in shaping the energy transition. The ILO contributed to this report with its expertise in the field of employment and wrote the chapter on skills.

Source: www.irena.org / www.ilo.org