The IEA ran an interesting article on how large-scale decarbonisation will fuel new employment opportunities and stated that more than 30 million jobs could be created in clean energy, efficiency and low-emissions technologies by 2030. We take a deep dive into where the sector stands currently, the opportunities, skill gaps, and outlook; as well as touching on job losses in the hydrocarbons sector and how this can be addressed/offset.
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How decarbonisation is fuelling job creation
The clean energy employment shift is reshaping the global workforce as demand for green talent and disruptive knowledge soars while traditional industries look to reskill, upskill and new skill.
The global transition to clean energy and net zero ambition has obvious implications for the world of work.
In its Renewable Energy and Jobs: Annual Review 2022, the UAE-headquartered International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) reported a worldwide renewable energy industry employment figure of 12.7 million in 2021, logging an additional 700,000 new jobs on the previous year.
The report also posited a figure of 38.2 million renewable energy jobs worldwide by 2030, with other energy transition-related sectors accounting for a further 74.2 million jobs. This represents a significant jump on the ILO’s 2018 estimate of 24 million green jobs by the end of the decade.
Solar PV currently leads the way with 4.3 million jobs recorded in 2021, followed by hydropower and biofuels tied at 2.4 million apiece, and 1.3 million in wind power.
Growing opportunities for green talent
Green talent is required to drive the global energy transition across all industry sectors, at every level.
Renewable energy is a resilient and “reliable job creation engine”, according to Francesco La Camera, Director-General, IRENA, who suggests that developing the domestic renewable energy value chain needs to be a government priority. This has the potential to bolster supply chain reliability and support overall energy security goals, as well as create new business opportunities and jobs.
According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Energy Technology Perspectives 2023 report, new and expanding industries are driving future employment opportunities. It states that if countries worldwide fully
implement their announced energy and climate pledges, related clean energy manufacturing jobs could more than double from six million today to nearly 14 million by 2030, with over 50 per cent of jobs linked to electric vehicles, solar PV, wind and heat pumps.
In the UAE alone, 50,000 new green jobs will be created by 2030 under the country’s updated energy strategy with thousands of jobs in the emerging hydrogen sector by 2050, according to UAE Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei.
A 2020 UK government report, The Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, pegged the hydrogen sector as a key channel for job creation, with potential to support up to 10,000 jobs in the UK by 2030, and up to 100,000 by 2050.
Over in the US, meanwhile, the number of jobs in renewable energy and environment sectors increased by 237 per cent in the last five years, according to the LinkedIn Global Green Skills Report 2022, compared to just 19 per cent for oil and gas roles. While this presents a world of exciting employment opportunity, the report highlights a current deficit of talent.
Remuneration is a side issue that could also prolong the talent shortage crisis. A Q1 2023 working paper published by the London School of Economics’ Grantham Research Institute and entitled Skills and wage gaps in the low-carbon transition: comparing job vacancy data from the US and UK – found that while low-carbon jobs have higher requirements for technical, managerial and social skills than other roles, and often required in-demand IT skills, they were not necessarily better remunerated, potentially dissuading prospective hires who may find low-carbon roles financially unappealing.
Addressing the talent deficit
In its newly released 2023 report, LinkedIn noted that despite continued growth in employment in the renewable energy industry for the period 2015 to 2023 – with 120 new joiners for every 100 workers leaving the sector - growth in demand for green skills is outpacing supply.
The share of green talent in the global workforce rose by 12.3 per cent between 2022 and 2023, with the share of job postings requiring applicants to have at least one green skill jumping 22.4 per cent year on year.
In oil and gas, the green talent concentration has steadily increased since 2016, reaching 21 per cent in 2023. Another emerging sector is automotive where the share of auto workers with EV skills rose by 61% for the period 2018 to 2023.
Specific in-demand roles include sustainability manager, energy specialist, sustainability analyst, solar consultant, and environmental health and safety specialist, and the hiring list is growing year on year with employers also open to taking on candidates with similar or adjacent skill sets for certain roles.
Reskilling, upskilling and new skilling are, of course, key to accelerating future decarbonised job opportunity. The advent of smart technologies and the implication for traditional industries requires integration experts, whether it’s systems-centric or maintenance related. As the pace of technological development also accelerates, the nature of certain roles will also continually evolve, requiring ongoing training and skills base development.
Other initiatives to plug the talent gap include the implementation of enhanced worker training programmes, career development incentivisation, and the creation of accessible pathways into the clean energy industry.
Smoothing the path to transition
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), around 11.9 million people were working in the oil and gas sector in 2019, with up to 10 times as many indirectly employed. The industry has an existing skilled workforce with transferable capabilities to suit hydrogen fuel, offshore wind, carbon capture and storage technology, and other sectors.
A 2021 study conducted by Scotland’s Robert Gordon University revealed that over 90 per cent of oil and gas workers have medium to high skills transferability. Workforce mapping is a critical tool in forecasting future workforce requirements and in helping to analyse hydrocarbons employee skills to identify synergies with renewable energy sector opportunity.
The clean energy employment shift also requires oil and gas companies to look to a wider talent pool to recruit both the individuals and skills they need to thrive in a diversified global marketplace.
Traditional roles will sit alongside next-generation skills and knowledge, ranging from digital analytics, AI innovation and machine learning to carbon capture and storage-focused geoscience roles.
Legacy energy companies are also strategising for long-term sustainability, partnering with schools and universities to sow the seeds for the future workforce generation. For example, in 2017 the UAE state energy company ADNOC launched the first in a series of STEM education programmes in schools. By 2030, it plans to reach 200,000 students nationwide and chart a pathway for diversified energy career opportunities.