The substantial expansion of Africa's renewable energy sector and continued investments over the past five years have not resulted in significant employment growth within the industry, according to the latest Renewable Energy and Jobs report, published by IRENA and the International Labor Organization (ILO).
Thus, despite a consistent increase in the installed capacity of renewable energy and greater investments over the past five years, there is no indication that the green transition has resulted in a significant increase in job creation across Africa.
Meanwhile, renewable energy jobs worldwide have been increasing consistently with the growing investment and installed capacity.
The report showed that global renewable energy employment has continued to expand, reaching an estimated 13.7 million direct and indirect jobs in 2022. This represents a 24.5% increase compared to the 2018 figure of 11 million and nearly double the 7.3 million workers in 2012.
Data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) further reveals that investments in the global renewable energy sector increased by 19.5% to $382 billion in the five years to December 2021. The installed capacity of clean energy sources globally reached a record high of 3.09 million MW in 2022, a growth of more than 30 %.
"We can expect the creation of many millions of additional jobs in the coming years and decades, provided that education and skills development programs are appropriately expanded, workforce development programs are put in place, and labor markets respond to evolving needs," said IRENA’s director-general Francesco La Camera and his ILO counterpart Gilbert Houngbo in the foreword to the report.
The report emphasized that the current renewable energy employment is concentrated in a small number of countries, indicating the uneven geographical distribution of "equipment manufacturing and capacity installations."
Almost two-thirds of all renewable energy jobs are in Asia, with China representing 41% of the global total. Over 58% of renewable energy employees work in China, Brazil, the United States, and India. In contrast, Africa only accounts for 2.3% of clean energy jobs worldwide. There is still a limited production of renewable energy equipment such as solar panels, wind turbines, and water turbines in Africa, resulting in fewer skilled job opportunities.
The report recorded approximately 5 million jobs in the field of solar energy in 2022. It was noted that solar photovoltaic (PV) is the most rapidly growing sector among renewable energy technologies, comprising over one-third of the total renewable energy workforce. Moreover, women occupy 40% of these jobs.