1/🧵 about new @IEA energy employment report.
*Clean energy investment up 40% over past 2 yrs
*67 million(MM) energy workers globally
*Clean energy = 35MM
*Fossil fuels = 32MM
* #China has most clean energy workers
* #Cleanenergy skilled labour shortages
iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/8934984a-0d66-444f-a36f-641a4a3ef7de/World_Energy_Employment_2023.pdf
2/Most oil/gas jobs lost during pandemic didn't come back.
#Alberta lost 20,000 O&G jobs since 2019.
"A major shift in energy employment worldwide has been underway since the pandemic, with growth coming almost entirely from clean energy jobs in 2019-2022."
#ABleg #yyc #yeg
3/"Oil and gas investments have rebounded amid the crisis, but the pace of re-hiring remained tempered by uncertainty regarding long-term demand prospects in light of increasing climate action. "
Digital tech destroys jobs in O&G, creates jobs in clean energy.
4/"Clean energy is the primary driver of worldwide energy employment growth – and only in a few regions are fossil fuel jobs higher than pre-pandemic levels."
North America gained few clean energy jobs, but lost fossil fuels jobs. Should change with Inflation Reduction Act.
5/Canadians don't appreciate how Asia generally, China specifically dominates clean energy industrial revolution.
China now drives the energy transition. USA is desperately trying to catch up, but is far behind. The EU is trying to adjust to the IRA.
Global energy arms race.
6/These are the clean energy industries/supply chains China dominates.
Canada ranks 4th in oil, 5th in gas in global production. 70-80% comes from Alberta.
Canada a leader in 20th century energy, laggard in 21st century energy.
7/More evidence of China's lead in clean energy deployment (wind, solar) and clean energy industry (solar panels, wind turbines, EVs manufacturing, batteries, heat pumps, etc).
Heavy investments in clean energy over past 20+ years give China the jobs lead by wide margin.
8/Climate policy isn't just about lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
USA is very clear about importance of industrial policy to subsidize adoption of clean energy tech (eg solar) AND building industry to manufacture that tech.
Basically, what China began c. 2000.
9/This should be Alberta's mantra:
*Mitigate risk to existing energy sector
*Take every possible advantage of opportunities in clean energy deployment and industry
10/"...vocational roles such as construction may require greater specialisation than in other industries, parlaying into higher pay. This wage gap acts as a barrier to shifting workers from oil and gas to clean energy sectors, especially for late-career workers."
AB issue?
11/Question: Since Canada's grid is already 84% zero emissions, are we better off creating new energy jobs in clean energy R&D, manufacturing, supply chains etc?
Easy answer is both, but there is much to do and not much time to do it, suggesting Canada should focus its efforts.
12/"In some fossil fuel industries, workers already possess skillsets that
can be highly applicable to other sectors...O&G workers, for example, tend to have skills needed in bioenergy processing, carbon capture, utilisation and storage, hydrogen production, and geothermal."
13/"...energy sector requires more highly skilled, specialised energy
workers than many other industries, with 36% of the energy workforce typically requiring some form of tertiary education, and 51% some vocational training..."
14/Big problem in Canada.
"...despite recognition that [vocational education training] will be critical to the green transition, these programmes are not expanding fast enough to meet the growing demand in the energy industry."
15/"...changes in employment ushered in by the clean energy
transition need to be carefully managed to minimise the social
costs, maintain social license, and ensure labour does not become
a bottleneck for transition."
Making transitions just for workers increasingly important.
16/Big Alberta issue. Hear this all the time from workers used to making $100,000-plus on a rig.
Those jobs are disappearing fast thanks to digital tech, automation, etc.
17/"Women have historically been underrepresented in the energy
world. With net growth in energy employment exclusively in the
clean energy sector through 2030, the transition offers an opportunity to redress this trend with more inclusive policies, at both company, govt levels."
18/This report is more evidence of how far behind Canada is in pivoting to the energy transition.
Hot take of the day: let's downplay the climate angle of the transition for a bit and focus on the economic one.
Like the Americans.
19/Between Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Act, other legislation the US govt will provide around $1 trillion of support to energy transition by early 2030s.
Will Canada invest in clean energy industry and create jobs or watch others do it while O&G jobs disappear?