The International Agency for Renewable Energies (Irena, its acronym in English) has presented in society the Platform for Sustainable Energy Jobs, an initiative of which almost a dozen international organizations are already part, from which it will be shared, disseminated and It will communicate all kinds of information and knowledge that will help achieve two of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) approved by the United Nations in 2015 for compliance in 2030: SDG 7 on clean energy and SDG 8 on economic growth and employment . The launch of the new Platform took place during the Tenth Assembly of Irena, held between January 10 and 12 in Abu Dhabi. All the information of the sector in a single click
The transition to a more sustainable, accessible, reliable and affordable energy system has important ramifications in employment and improves the socioeconomic recovery capacity of communities worldwide. The absence of these conditions can mean the loss of jobs and lost opportunities for their creation. In this context, renewable energies play an essential role in creating decent and quality employment, opening new job opportunities to people and regions throughout the world.
All this requires more ambitious action by governments and all stakeholders interested in achieving a prosperous and just energy transition for all. To help in this process, the new Sustainable Energy Employment Platform will be responsible for analyzing, reviewing, comparing and comparing any type of information in order to generate ideas about how to guarantee socially fair and inclusive results. It will also identify areas of shared interest, avoid duplication of efforts and contribute to a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities linked to a sustainable energy system.
The renewable energy sector currently employs 11 million people worldwide, according to Irena estimates. Although renewable energy accounted for 17.5% of total global energy consumption as of 2016, its participation in employment in the energy sector is greater, reflecting an increase in labor intensity than the increasingly automated energy sector. fossil fuels.
As the energy transition accelerates and decentralized technologies allow better access to energy and productive use, renewable energy could employ more than 40 million people worldwide in 2050, with additional jobs related to efficiency energy, electric mobility and network modernization, according to a report published by Irena during the presentation of the new Platform. The report also reveals that total employment in the energy sector could reach 100 million by 2050, compared to the current 58 million, if the international community uses its full renewable energy potential.
Inclusive and quality employment
In its launch statement, the partners of the new Platform created by Irena, focus on a series of measures in favor of a transition. On the one hand, they advocate the implementation of appropriate industrial, fiscal, commercial, labor, educational and training policies to maximize job creation through working markets that work well, increase the depth and diversity of local chains of value of renewable energies and, thus, allow more and more countries to derive the socio-economic benefits of the energy transition.
Similarly, they propose to achieve gender balance in the sector, hence agree that efforts to ensure diversity in the workforce should include women, but also youth and minority or disadvantaged groups . Currently, women represent a higher percentage of the workforce in the renewable energy sector (32%) compared to the oil and gas industry. However, this percentage remains low compared to other sectors of the economy.
From the Platform they consider it very likely that gender disparities persist, unless specific measures are taken to allow greater female participation in clean energy occupations, hence they propose eliminating barriers to entry, ensuring the preservation of employment and prioritize professional advancement. In line with this, he believes that investment in renewable energy related skills should be increased for new participants in the labor market, along with adequate resources to support the updating, training and improvement of those who are already part of the staff.
Another aspect to take into account is the implementation of adequate policies that support rural economic development. Providing access to rural electricity through distributed renewable energy is already creating hundreds of thousands of direct jobs and has a multiplier effect on the creation of 'productive use' jobs in the communities that gain access, hence the recommendation to put in marches measures to expand said access.
Precisely, one of the regions with the greatest energy problems in the world is Sub-Saharan Africa, where about 650 million people live without electricity. As access to electricity improves in the region, renewable energy solutions can generate a growing number of jobs in those countries where unemployment and low employment rates are the main concerns, hence, since the Platform, the need to pay special attention to the creation of more jobs in Africa is recommended.
Another aspect that affects the partners of the Platform is that the energy transition must be a just transition. To facilitate this task, they believe that adequate investments in economic development and revitalization, recycling opportunities, and social protection are provided to workers and communities whose livelihoods depend on fossil fuel based industries to facilitate their participation in the new energy economy In order to make transition policies more effective, there is a need for dialogue between stakeholders, in order to ensure broad-based support.
Double the number of renewables in 2030
Coinciding with the Tenth Annual Assembly of Irena, a new booklet was published that shows global progress in the renewable energy sector over the past decade and describes the measures that are still needed to expand its participation.
According to Irena, the participation of renewables worldwide should more than double in 2030 to advance global energy transformation, achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and move towards climate security. Renewable electricity should supply 57% of the world's energy by the end of the decade, compared to the current 26%.
Agency data shows that the annual investment in renewables should double from the current 330,000 M $ to 750,000 M € to facilitate its deployment. Much of this investment could be accomplished by redirecting planned investment in fossil fuels. According to the brochure published by Irena, about 10 billion dollars of investments in non-renewable energy are planned for 2030.
The fall in technological costs is another aspect that favors the development of renewables. Irena points out that the costs of the photovoltaic solar have fallen by almost 90% in the last 10 years and the prices of terrestrial wind turbines have fallen by half in that period. By the end of this decade, it is expected that the costs of both technologies can compete with traditional energy. Both technologies could cover, according to the published brochure, more than a third of the world's energy needs.
Renewable energies outside the grid have also become a key solution to expand access to energy and already offer access to 150 million people worldwide. Irena's data shows that 60% of new access to electricity can be achieved by renewables in the next decade with independent systems and mini-networks.