World Energy Employment 2023 report

Key findings

• Global employment in the energy sector grew by 3.4 million over pre-pandemic levels to 67 million in 2022. 
• “Clean energy sectors added 4.7 million jobs globally over the same period and stand at 35 million.
• Fossil fuels jobs recovered more slowly after layoffs in 2020 and remain around 1.3 million below pre-pandemic employment levels, at 32 million.
• Job growth in the clean energy as well as fossil fuel sector remained positive in India compared to pre-pandemic levels of 2019.
• With this, the country saw the fourth-highest number of new clean energy jobs being created in the past three years.
• The report mentioned five major sectors of the energy industry that led to maximum job creation post-pandemic.
• These sectors were solar PV, wind, electric vehicles (EVs) and battery manufacturing, heat pumps, and critical minerals mining.
• These five sectors employed around 9 million workers till now. Out of all the sectors Solar PV emerged as the largest of the sectors with around 4 million jobs.
• On the other hand, the manufacturing of EVs and their batteries was the largest source of growth. 

Q1) What are Critical Minerals?

It is a metallic or non-metallic element that has two characteristics. It is essential for the functioning of our modern technologies, economies or national security.

Source: Clean energy overtakes fossil fuels in the global job market: IEA report