Renewables jobs nearly doubled in past decade, says new report ahead of COP28
Worldwide employment in renewable energy reached 13.7 million in 2022 up from a total of 7.3 million in 2012 due to increasing investment, a new report said.
The report comes weeks ahead of the COP28 summit in Dubai from November 30 to December 12, which is seen as a vital chance for governments to expedite action to prevent global warming.
Compiled by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), the report however notes that most of the jobs renewable energy are concentrated in only a few states.
These are notably China, which accounts for 41 per cent of the global total. Brazil, EU countries, India and the US were among the other countries where job creation increased.
Solar photovoltaics (PV) was once again the largest employer in 2022, the Annual Review found, reaching 4.9 million jobs, more than a third of the total workforce in the renewable energy sector.
Hydropower and biofuels had similar numbers of jobs as in 2021, around 2.5 million each, followed by wind power with 1.4 million jobs.
"Creating many more millions of jobs will require a much faster pace of investments in energy transition technologies," Francesco La Camera, IRENA Director-General, said.
At the moment, jobs in renewables remain unequally distributed between men and women. Solar technology has the best gender balance compared to other sectors, with 40 per cent of jobs held by women.
At the weekend, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE's special envoy on climate change and the COP28 president-elect, said the conference's main objective will be to hold the world to its commitment to keeping global temperatures to no more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels as agreed under the 2015 Paris Agreement during COP21.