Thursday 29 April 2021

Nearly 3.3m wind energy jobs ‘could be created in the next five years’

The wind energy industry could create almost 3.3 million new jobs globally in the next five years.

That's according to a new report by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), which foresees a major expansion of the industry -it says this would benefit both onshore and offshore wind and could cover the entire value chain of the sector.

Data shows an estimated additional 470GW of new onshore and offshore wind capacity is expected to be installed globally by 2025.

High growth wind markets, including China, the US, India, Germany and the UK, are set to see a surge in new wind jobs.

A global survey by GWEC Market Intelligence shows as of 2020, there were approximately 550,000 wind energy workers in China, 260,000 in Brazil, 115,000 in the US and 63,000 in India.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, the wind industry boasts 751GW of installed capacity and has generated nearly 1.2 million jobs globally to date.

Ben Backwell, Chief Executive Officer at GWEC, said: "As the world still reels from the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, governments must look to the wind sector as a key industry to create the jobs they need to get their economies back on track.

“Yet despite the undeniable evidence that wind and other clean energy sectors offer significantly more economic benefits and jobs, Covid-19 stimulus packages globally are still spending a cumulative $30 billion (£21.4bn) more on fossil fuel energy compared to clean energy."