Jobs in demand despite covid

BARCELONA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Despite the massive economic disruptions created by the COVID-19 epidemic, the number of employment in renewable energy globally climbed in 2020, with the expanding economy outperforming fossil fuels, according to international organizations on Thursday.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) in their annual report on clean energy employment, there were 12 million jobs in renewable energy and its supply chains last year, with solar power accounting for one-third of them.

This is an increase from 11.5 million jobs in 2019.

"The year 2020 shows that not even a worldwide pandemic can halt the advancement of renewable energy," IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera stated in a preface.

The COVID-19 dilemma, along with global warming concerns, "reinforce the necessity for a fair and inclusive transition toward a clean, dependable energy supply and sustainable, healthy, climate-friendly employment," he said.

According to the paper, achieving a fair transition from coal, oil, and gas to solar, wind, bioenergy, and hydropower would need initiatives to educate people in new skills and develop local supply networks.

It also said that social assistance would be required for individuals who lose their employment in high-carbon industries such as coal mining.

Lockdowns to limit the COVID-19 pandemic did impact certain sections of the renewables business in 2020, according to the report, including a minor drop in biofuel employment owing to decreasing transportation usage.

Off-grid solar lighting sales were also down in developing nations, but firms were able to prevent job losses with government assistance, according to the research.

The ILO's deputy director-general for policy, Martha Newton, called the steady rise of renewable energy employment globally despite the epidemic a "really positive indication."

However, reaping the greatest social and economic advantages from the clean energy transition will need looking beyond the number of employment, she said during the report's video premiere.

"We need a strategy to energy transition that promotes decent employment creation," she stated, referring to occupations that promote fairness, security, and human dignity.

WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE?

The survey emphasized the need of bringing more women into renewable energy employment, despite the fact that they now hold 32% of such occupations on average, compared to 22% in the oil and gas industry.

Rwanda's infrastructure minister, Claver Gatete, said his East African country was pushing females to study engineering by giving internships at sustainable energy businesses and establishing gender objectives for the sector.

According to the analysis, the solar photovoltaics industry employed around 4 million people in 2020, while biofuels employed 2.4 million, hydropower employed 2.2 million, and wind energy employed 1.25 million.

China accounted for almost four out of every ten renewable energy employment, with Brazil, India, the United States, and European Union member states following closely behind.

Other nations where clean energy jobs are being created include Vietnam and Malaysia, which export solar equipment; Indonesia and Colombia, which have extensive agricultural supply chains for biofuels; and Mexico and Russia, where wind power is booming.

Solar employment are spreading throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, from Nigeria to Togo and South Africa, according to the research.

The scientists predicted that if governments reduce global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, their most ambitious target, the renewable energy industry could provide 38 million employment by 2030 and 43 million by 2050.

It added that this is about twice the amount of jobs that would be produced under existing climate action plans and commitments, which fall short of fulfilling the Paris Agreement targets.

Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, which represents 200 million workers in more than 160 countries, said that in order to achieve net zero emissions, every sector of the economy would need to migrate to a greener model.

That's "a good news story," she says, since for every ten jobs produced in renewable energy, 5-10 are created in manufacturing supply chains, with many more in services, transportation, and logistics.

If those employment come with fair working conditions, a minimum salary, and labor rights including the freedom to establish unions and bargain collectively, "that's about growth, community rebirth, and ambitions," she said at the report's unveiling.