As the world squares up to the intertwined crises of climate change and youth unemployment, the transition to sustainable energy technologies has never been more crucial. These technologies - traversing solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal energy—leverage natural processes to generate clean, renewable energy, thereby leading to a significant decrease in dependency on fossil fuels and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. The urgency of this transition is accelerated by the impact of climate change, which puts ecological stability and economic resilience at risk.
The renewable energy sector is rapidly growing, driven by advancements in technology, policy incentives, and surging market demand leading to the creation of a large number of job opportunities, for the youth in particular, who face persistently high unemployment rates globally. According to a report provided by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), 12.7 million people work in the renewable energy sector worldwide. In a collaborative annual review in 2022 with the International Labor Organization (ILO) regarding renewable energy and jobs, IRENA predicted that this boom in job opportunities could lead to an increase in employment in the renewable energy sector to more than 38 million by 2030, globally.
As per this review among the major sectors of renewable energy, Solar photovoltaic (PV), is currently leading in renewable energy employment, supporting 4.3 million jobs. Hydropower and biofuels each contribute 2.4 and wind power with 1.3 million. The rest of the job growth comes from sectors such as geothermal, heat pumps, and ocean energy. According to IRENA’s database, nearly 66% of these jobs are located in Asia.
An Indian Perspective
Based on employment factors, IRENA estimates that India had 1,37,000 jobs in grid connected solar PV in 2021, up 47% from 2020. Roughly 80,000 people work in off-grid solar, which recovered from the COVID-19 impacts of the previous years.
IRENA also estimates that employment in India’s wind sector stood at 35,400 in 2021, with Operations and Maintenance(O&M) accounting for almost half of these jobs.
According to Tyagi et al. (2022), 49,900 jobs were in construction and commissioning, 41100 in O&M and 20400 in business development and design. Lingering COVID-19 disruptions meant that the number of new renewable energy jobs created fell from 12400 in fiscal year FY 2019 to 5200 in FY 2020 and 6400 in FY 2021.
Tyagi et al. (2022) also find that more than 100000 people were trained between 2015 and 2021, of which 78000 were certified under the national solar energy Suryamitra training programme. India’s Skills Council for Green Jobs plays an important role in this context through the development of Green National Occupation Standards. The success of Suryamitra led to similar programmes, such as Vayumitra (for wind installers) and Varunmitra (for solar pump installers) (Tyagi et al., 2022).
Reaching India’s goal of 500 Gigawatt of non-fossil-fuel energy sources by 2030 could create 3.4 million new job opportunities (of short or long duration), or about 1 million direct full-time equivalents. Most would be in the localised deployment of Distributed Renewable Energy(DRE). This goal can be achieved with continuous deployment, sufficient skills development, upgrading and retraining, and enhancement of domestic manufacturing of various components (Tyagi et al., 2022)
What does the energy transition entail for jobs, workers, economies, and regions?
A successful and just energy transition requires strong public policy interventions and capable institutions for policy implementation.
However, the volatility and sudden increase in energy and food prices have repeatedly triggered social unrest and had profound impacts on the labor market. Energy is a major input for most economic activities. Through its impact on fertilizer production, food processing, transport, cooking, and heating, the cost of energy has a major effect on the price of food and other basic needs. As food, transport, and housing account for a large share of household expenditures, a sudden increase in energy prices is felt across the world.
A recent Policy Brief by the International Labour Organization (ILO) projects a potential loss of 78 million jobs in a low-carbon energy and circular economy scenario. The circular economy is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. In this way, the life cycle of products is extended. However, it is too early to be pessimistic about these numbers. It is important to note that the overall job creation potential is close to 103 million jobs.
Just transition policies to guide countries’ responses
Empowering youth for greener jobs goes beyond symbolic gestures of inclusivity; it places the tools for climate mitigation and adaptation in the hands of the younger generation. Engaging youth in transitional phases is the key to overcoming traditional obstacles in energy decarbonization.
A focus on human capital is warranted, as the right skills are required to manufacture, install and maintain energy transition technologies. Providing workers with the right skills and helping them transition to the renewable energy sector requires investments in education, training and human resource development. This is an investment that offers high economic returns, as a better-skilled labour force reduces unemployment and increases productivity and wages.
Gender equity is also critical so that the renewable energy sector taps more fully into the large pool of talent and ideas among women.
REFERENCES
Owen-Burge, C. (2023, December 5). Just Energy Transition: Opening new doors for youth employment - Climate Champions. Climate Champions. https://climatechampions.unfccc.int/just-energy-transition-opening-new-doors-for-youth-employment/
IRENA. (2022, September). Renewable Energy and Jobs - Annual Review 2022. /Publications/2022/Sep/Renewable-Energy-And-Jobs-Annual-Review-2022. https://www.irena.org/publications/2022/Sep/Renewable-Energy-and-Jobs-Annual-Review-2022
Ellerbeck, S. (2023, January 13). The renewable energy transition is creating a green jobs boom. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/renewable-energy-transition-green-jobs/
Kimbrough, K. (2021, September 23). These are the sectors where green jobs are growing in demand. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/09/sectors-where-green-jobs-are-growing-in-demand/
Image sources: IRENA jobs database, iStockphoto.com, Shutterstock.com, IRENA, 2022c
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