More than 500,000 clean energy workers in the US will lose their jobs as the coronavirus pandemic continues, the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) has predicted.
Research by ACORE, US advocacy initiative Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) and other groups have warned that up to 15% of the entire clean energy workforce across the country will lose jobs in the coming months, unless Congress and the Trump administration take “quick and substantive” action.
More than 106,000 clean energy workers in the US lost their jobs in March due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, based on ACORE’s and E2’s analysis of Department of Labor data.
The analysis looked at workers in clean energy occupations who filed for unemployment benefits last month.
Hardest hit states include California with nearly 20,000 unemployment claims, followed by North Carolina with 6800, Pennsylvania with just over 6000 and Massachusetts with 5611, the analysis found.
Clean energy employees filing for benefits in March included electricians, high voltage specialists, mechanical trades technicians, solar installers, wind industry engineers and technicians as well as manufacturing workers employed by electric vehicle makers and suppliers.
ACORE president and chief executive Gregory Wetstone said: “This analysis quantifies in stark terms the damage COVID-19 is already doing to the renewable energy workforce, and the devastating trajectory we’re facing absent help from Congress.
“The renewable sector is being hit hard by supply chain disruptions, shelter-in-place orders and other significant pandemic-related delays.
“To stem job losses, we ask Congress to extend the time-sensitive deadlines faced by renewable projects seeking to qualify for critical tax incentives, and to provide temporary refundability for renewable tax credits that are increasingly difficult to monetise.
“In the end, we’re all in this together, and the renewable energy industry wants to be a key economic driver to help the nation through this downturn, as well as an effective climate solution over the long haul.”
Clean energy has been one of the US economy’s biggest and fastest-growing employment sectors over the past decade, growing 10.4% since 2015, said ACORE.
According to a separate report by E2 US clean energy jobs increased to nearly 3.4 million at the end of 2019, accounting for more than half of the entire energy sector’s job growth in 2019.
E2 executive director Bob Keefe said: “What these numbers tell us is that clean energy workers are a huge and important part of America’s workforce – and they are hurting badly.
“Lawmakers simply cannot ignore the millions of electricians, technicians and factory workers who work in clean energy as they consider ongoing economic recovery efforts – especially since we know from our country’s last economic meltdown that clean energy can lead the way to recovery.”