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Investments in Africa’s renewable energy sector over the last five years have failed to deliver a growth in employment in the industry, deviating from trends globally.
The latest annual Renewable Energy and Jobs report published by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) reveals that in 2022, only 320,000 Africans were employed by the sector, a 0,6 percent drop from 2018.
This is despite a consistent growth in the installed capacity of renewable energy as well as more investments over the last five years, signalling a failure of the green transition to create more jobs in Africa.
Data from Irena shows that installed capacity of renewable energy in Africa increased by 18 percent to 63,034MW in 2022, while investments in the sector rose 44 percent in five years to US$13 billion as of 2021, but jobs dropped from the 322,000 recorded in 2018.
Globally, jobs in the renewable energy sector have been rising consistently with increased investment and installed capacity, which justifies continued investments and transition to cleaner energy sources.
According to the report, in 2022, there were over 13,7 million people working in the clean energy space, a 24.5 percent increase from the 11 million reported in 2018, and nearly double the 7.3 million in 2012.
Latest statistics from the International Energy Agency (IEA) also show that in the five years to December 2021, investments in the global renewable energy sector rose by 19.5 percent to $382 billion.
At the same time, the global installed capacity of the clean energy sources hit a record high of 3.09 million MW in 2022, a growth of over 30 percent since 2018, reflecting the rise in investments, hence more jobs. -Business Insider Africa
Online Reporter