There are now more than 9.8m jobs in renewable energy in the world, and the number of posts in the sector could climb to 24m by 2030, finds a new report
Renewable energy jobs around the world numbered 10m in 2016, according to a report released yesterday by the International Renewable Energy Agency, (IRENA). The figure is up 1.1 per cent on 2015. The number of posts in the sector could reach 24m by 2030, believe experts, and has climbed every year since 2012, with solar photovoltaic becoming the largest segment by total jobs in 2016.
There are now an estimated 3.09m jobs in the solar photovoltaic sector, followed by liquid biofuels at 1.7m. The wind industry had 1.2m employees, a seven per cent increase from 2015.
In the last four years, the number of jobs in the solar and wind sectors combined has more than doubled
“Falling costs and enabling policies have steadily driven up investment and employment in renewable energy worldwide since IRENA’s first annual assessment in 2012, when just over seven million people were working in the sector,” said IRENA director general Adnan Amin. “In the last four years, for instance, the number of jobs in the solar and wind sectors combined has more than doubled.
“As the scales continue to tip in favour of renewables, we expect that the number of people working in the renewables sector could reach 24 million by 2030, more than offsetting fossil fuel job losses and becoming a major economic driver around the world.”
