Jobs in the global renewable energy industry reached 11,500,000 in 2019, according to figures released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
The seventh edition of Renewable Energy and Jobs – Annual Review found solar PV jobs accounted for 3.8 million of the 11.5 million jobs, the lion’s share.
In 2019 63% of all renewables jobs were recorded in Asia, confirming the region’s status as a market leader, the new report stated.
Biofuels jobs followed solar PV, reaching 2.5 million. Many of these jobs are in the agricultural supply chain, particularly in countries like Brazil, Colombia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, with labour-intensive operations.
Other large employers in the renewables sector are the hydropower and wind industries, with close to 2 million and 1.2 million jobs, respectively.
IRENA director general Francesco La Camera (pictured) said: “Adopting renewables creates jobs and boosts local income in both developed and developing energy markets.
“While today we see a handful of countries in the lead, each country can harness its renewable potential, take steps to leverage local capabilities for industrial development, and train its workers.”
Renewables jobs have shown more inclusion and a better gender balance than fossil fuels, the reported stated with women holding 32% of total renewables jobs, as opposed to 21% in fossil fuels.
Comprehensive policies, led by education and training measures, labour market interventions, and industrial policies that support the leveraging of local capacities, are “essential for sustaining the renewables jobs expansion” highlighted IRENA’s study.
The 2020 edition of the Annual Review also details initiatives to support the education and training of workers and advised that policymakers must also “prioritise reskilling for fossil fuel sector workers who have lost or are at risk of losing their livelihoods”.
Many have considerable skills and expertise to contribute to a reoriented, clean energy industry, the report found.
IRENA’s recently-released Post-COVID Recovery Agenda found that an ambitious stimulus programme could create up to 5.5 million more jobs over the next three years than a business-as-usual approach.
Such an initiative would also allow the world to stay on track for creating the 42 million renewables jobs that the agency’s Global Renewables Outlook projects for 2050.