Employment in the renewable energy sector increased by more than one million jobs in 2014, according to a new report released Tuesday by International Renewable Energy Agency, IRENA.
According to the report called Renewable Energy and Jobs – Annual Review 2015, more than 7.7 million people worldwide are now employed by the renewable energy industry and that is equal to a 18 percent increase from 2013’s figure of 6.5 million.
The report reveals that renewable energy employment is shaped by regional shifts, industry realignments, growing competition and advances in technologies and manufacturing processes.
Asia is a leading country on creating jobs in renewable energy sector. The top countries after China are India, Indonesia, Japan, and Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, European Union and the United States now represent 25 percent of global renewable energy jobs, compared to 31 per cent in 2012, according to the report.
'The 10 countries with the largest renewable energy employment figures are China, Brazil, the United States, India, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, France, Bangladesh and Colombia,' the report underlined.
Solar Photovoltaic industry is the largest renewable energy employer worldwide with 2.5 million jobs among all and Solar PV followed by liquid biofuels with 1.8 million jobs, and wind power, which surpassed one million jobs for the first time in 2015.
The report also said that the employment tendency in renewable energy sector is a spectrum with solar, wind, biofuels, biomass, biogas and small hydropower all seeing increases in employment.
By Gulsen Cagatay
Anadolu Agency
gulsen.cagatay@aa.com.tr