With the unknown impact of COVID-19 on employment in the renewable energy sector and the current policy of the Australian government, at SmartConsult, we fully support the AEMO “Step Change” scenario leading us towards reaching our 2015 Paris agreement goals.
In an era of cheap credit and employment uncertainty caused by COVID-19, there is a massive opportunity for our country and government to invest in the industries of the future and support sustainable employment and economic growth, while at the same time doing our bit towards reducing the effects of climate change – this issue isn’t going to magically disappear, only intensify!
At SmartConsult we call on this current government to heed the established peer reviewed advice from scientific bodies and listen as they did the scientific advice on COVID-19.
According to this mornings’ article in the Guardian, analysts at the University of Technology Sydney Institute for Sustainable Futures, say up to 11,000 renewable energy workers are expected to lose their jobs over the next two years under the current government policy.
It states, up to two-thirds of renewable energy jobs were expected to be created in regional areas Chris Briggs, a research principal at the institute says “This is a difference of 30,000 jobs in the next few years depending on government policy.”
Described as the first large-scale survey of renewable energy jobs in Australia, the research from the University of Technology Sydney found the industry would be a major source of jobs in the medium term, but its short-term future would depend on how Covid-19 stimulus packages were deployed.
About 26,000 people are employed in renewable energy, but the study found this would fall to about 15,000 by 2022 under existing policies, including the Morrison government not replacing the national renewable energy target. The target, which requires energy companies to source about 23% of electricity from clean sources, was reached last year, triggering a 50% drop in large-scale renewable energy investment compared with 2018.
To read the original article in the Guardian click here.
