New Telegraph 
The year 2023 saw the largest ever increase in renewable energy jobs, from 13.7 million in 2022 to 16.2 million, according to the newly released Renewable Energy and Jobs – Annual Review 2024 from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The 18 per cent year-on-year leap reflects the strong growth of renewables generating capacity, together with a continued expansion of equipment manufacturing. However, a closer look at the report’s data shows an uneven global picture. Close to two-thirds of new global solar and wind capacity installed last year were in China. China leads with an estimated 7.4 million renewable energy jobs, or 46 per cent of the global total.
The European Union (EU) was next, with 1.8 million jobs, followed by Brazil with 1.56 million jobs and the United States and India with close to one million jobs each. The strongest impetus continued to come from the rapidly growing solar photovoltaics (PV) sector, which supported 7.2 million jobs globally. Of these, 4.6 million were in China, the dominant PV manufacturer and installer.
Enabled by significant Chinese investments, Southeast Asia has emerged as an important export hub of solar PV, creating jobs in the region. Liquid biofuels had the secondlargest number of jobs, followed by hydropower and wind. Brazil topped the biofuels ranks, accounting for one third of the world’s 2.8 million jobs in this sector. Soaring production put Indonesia in second, with a quarter of global biofuels jobs.
