Beyond pursuing climate goals, many governments are prioritizing renewable energy as a driver of economic growth through creation of job opportunities a scenario that holds many lessons for Nigeria currently struggling with a rising unemployment rate.
In highly populated countries like China, Brazil, United States and India the rise of decentralized renewable energy as a solution to electrification problem is also bringing with it a solution to high unemployment.
As the global energy transformation continues to gain momentum, this employment dimension ensures socio-economic sustainability and provides yet another reason for countries to commit to renewables a situation Africa’s largest economy has been struggling with rising unemployment in the past four years can learn from.
CHINA.
According to a 2019 report by International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) China remains the clear leader in renewable energy employment as 39 percent of renewable energy jobs around the world are in china with a total of 4.1 million jobs created as at first Quarter 2019. China’s 2018 wind employment is estimated at 510 000 jobs, roughly the level of the previous year while solar Photovoltaic (PV) generated 2.2 million jobs.
BRAZIL
In Brazil, the biofuels sector remains the most important renewable energy employer generating over 832,000 jobs. IRENA’s employment factor calculations suggest that Brazil presently has close to 15,600 jobs in solar PV, mostly in construction and installation while wind energy has generated 34,000 jobs.
United States
In the United States, liquid biofuels, solar, and wind industries are the largest employers in the renewable energy field. IRENA’s 2019 report reveals biofuels has generated 311,000 jobs while solar and wind energy have generated 242,000 and 114,000 jobs respectively.
India
India’s employment in grid-connected solar PV, as estimated by IRENA using employment factors, increased to 115 000 jobs in 2018, a gain of more than 20 000 while total jobs created by renewable energy stood at 119,000 jobs.
“Jobs in off-grid solar applications cannot be calculated with precision but may well double total solar employment,” IRENA’s report said about India.
Globally, IRENA said renewable energy sector employed 11 million people in 2018 compared with 10.3 million in 2017 although employment remains concentrated in a handful of countries, with China, Brazil, the United States, India and members of the European Union in the lead while Asian countries’ share remained at 60percent of the global total.
“Several factors including national deployment and industrial policies, changes in the geographic footprint of supply chains and in trade patterns, and industry consolidation trends — shape how and where jobs are created,” IRENA’s 2019 report noted.
Nonetheless, IRENA’s report noted that increasingly diverse geographic footprint of energy-generation capacities and, to a lesser degree, assembly and manufacturing plants, has created jobs in a rising number of countries.
Also, IRENA’s report acknowledged that rising off-grid solar sales are translating into growing numbers of jobs in the context of expanding energy access and spurring economic activities in previously isolated communities.
With Nigeria currently struggling with over 20.9 million unemployed people, stakeholders says with due attention and commitment by all concerned in Nigeria energy sector, renewable energy will be creating over a million jobs in no distance future.
