India To Employ Over 3 Lakh Workers in Solar & Wind Energy Sector: ILO

As per an estimation made by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), India will be employing over 3 lakh workers in renewable energy sectors of solar and wind to achieve the target of generating over 175 gigawatts of electricity by 2022.

The annual flagship report 'World Employment and Social Outlook 2018: Greening with jobs' also said that globally, attempts to combat climate change will create millions of job opportunities that would offset the losses of traditional industries.

24 million jobs are expected to be created globally by 2030 as per UN (United Nations) labour agency, if "the right policies to promote a greener economy" are in place.

The report spoke about India's goal to generate 175 GW of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2022, which would be almost half of its total power production. It said that the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and the Natural Resources Defence Council's (NRDC) estimates that over 3 lakh workers will be employed by the solar and wind sector in India based on their surveys of solar and wind companies - developers and manufacturers.

ILO also said that countries of Denmark, Estonia, France and Germany, South Korea, the Philippines and South Africa, along with India were making policies and national development strategies that were directed at green transition. It said that India had put environmental sustainability as the central objective in its five-year plan for 2012-17, where a Skills Council for Green Jobs was set in 2015 to fulfill the purpose.

26 new technical and vocational education and training courses that focus on water treatment plants, solar energy management, etc have been developed as per the report.

India today depends highly on coal and other carbon-emitting sources for 80 percent of its electricity supply and ILO predicts a loss of six million jobs globally in those industries when the country transition takes place, especially in the petroleum extraction and refineries.

Though Asia, the Pacific, the Americas and Europe are expected to benefit from job creation, a negative job growth is forecasted in the Middle East and Africa, if they continue their reliance on fossil fuels and mining.