IRENA: 500 Thousand New Jobs Created in the Renewable Energy Sector Last Year

The renewable energy industry is experiencing a boom, having created as many as 500 thousand new jobs last year, bringing the total number for the first time above ten million, reported the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

In total, thanks to renewable energy sources, 10.3 million jobs were created by the end of last year, representing an increase of 5.3 percent compared to the end of 2016, according to the agency’s report based in Abu Dhabi, published on Tuesday.

The results show that governments around the world today consider energy from renewable sources as a “key pillar of economic growth with low carbon emissions,” concludes the agency’s director general, Adnan Z. Amin.

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“These data essentially support our analysis that the decarbonization of the global energy system can support global economic growth and create 28 million jobs in this sector by 2050,” emphasized an IRENA official.

Last year, the majority of new jobs in this sector were created in China, Brazil, the United States, India, Germany, and Japan – accounting for as much as 70 percent.

Compared to 2012, the total number of jobs in the renewable energy sector has increased by 47 percent, with more than 60 percent concentrated in Asia, primarily in China, the agency’s report shows.

By the end of last year, the renewable energy sector employed a total of 3.88 million workers in China, 12.1 percent more than the previous year. China’s share of the total number of jobs in this sector was 38 percent.

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The expansion of the renewable energy sector is considered crucial for achieving the goals of the global pact to combat the effects of climate change on Earth, concluded at the end of 2015 in Paris. To keep the rise in the average global temperature below two degrees Celsius, the share of renewable sources in the global energy sector must double by 2030, the agency emphasizes.

“Investments must increase from about 305 billion dollars in 2015 to an average of 900 billion dollars annually from 2016 to 2030,” IRENA stated last year.

They also emphasize that energy from renewable sources has drastically decreased in price due to recent technological developments.