Since 2012, the number of jobs linked to renewable energies has continued to increase
The “El pelicano” photovoltaic power plant in northern Chile, whose electricity is mainly used for the Santiago metro.
RFI / Justine Fontaine
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Energy transition and economy can go hand in hand.
Since 2012, the number of jobs linked to renewable energies has continued to increase.
In 2019, 11.5 million people worked directly or indirectly for the sector, against 11 million a year earlier according to Irena, the International Renewable Energy Agency.
But they are very unevenly distributed.
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Unevenly distributed within the different sectors.
While photovoltaics concentrates 3,800,000 jobs (direct and indirect), wind power employs only 1.2 million people and is largely ahead of liquid biofuels.
Very unevenly distributed jobs around the world too: 10 countries account for the vast majority.
China alone concentrates 38%;
The European Union as a whole follows, followed by Brazil, the country that has created the most jobs in biofuels.
Still relatively few jobs have been identified on the African continent: less than 250,000. But Irena, the International Renewable Energy Agency, highlights growth in certain countries, South Africa in particular out of the game.
Finally, these jobs are still very unequally distributed between men and women.
They only represent a third of the workforce.
But the imbalance is less than in the world of energy as a whole which, still according to Irena, has only 22% of women.
Be that as it may, renewables still represent a minority of jobs.
In 2017, 58 million people worked in energy, half in fossil fuels.
But according to Irena's projections, the entire sector will employ 100 million people in 2050 in the event of an energy transition, against 87 million according to the current scheme.
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