March 27, 2023
Source: Maintenance World
At the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, the United States initiated the Net-Zero Government Initiative with a goal of achieving net-zero emissions no later than 2050. They invited other governments worldwide to implement the same goal and thus far 18 countries have joined the initiative.
To achieve this goal, the renewable energy industry must expand, and it is already seeing rapid growth. The term “renewable energy” as it is used in this article includes solar, wind, geothermal, battery, hydro, and bio energy. For the purposes of this article the term “clean energy” will follow the International Energy Agency’s definition. “IEA defines clean energy workers as those in sectors including bioenergy supply, generating power from nuclear and renewable sources, electricity grids and storage, electric vehicles manufacturing and energy efficiency.”
As of 2019 there are over 65 million individuals working in the global energy sector and as of 2022 clean energy jobs account for more than half of employment in the energy sector with the largest potential for job creation. To reach net-zero emissions by 2050, the clean energy sector must create 14 million new jobs worldwide by 2030.
While the renewable energy industry is growing, the oil and gas industry has taken a major hit the last couple of years.
The oil and gas industry has roughly 700,000 fewer workers in 2022 than the six years prior, a decline of over 20%.Between March and August of 2020, 107,000 oil and gas jobs were lost, this marks the fastest rate of layoffs in the industry’s history and doesn’t include the number of individuals furloughed or receiving salary reductions. Most of these lost positions are not expected to return to the industry.
Read more: Employees are Leaving the Oil and Gas Industry for Renewables
Related stories:
Clean energy and energy efficiency job search resources
There’s a renewable energy revolution occurring in America’s heartland
