De acuerdo con el informe de la Unión Europea, España será el tercer país de la UE que cree más empleos en el sector de las energías renovables en cifras absolutas, sólo por detrás de Polonia (160.000) y Alemania (145.000), y superará así a Estados miembros como Francia (120.000), Italia (115.000) o Reino Unido (75.000).
En términos relativos, España cae hasta la séptima posición del ranking ya que los que salen ganando en este caso son mayoritariamente los países del este: Lituania (con un aumento del empleo del 1,75%), Polonia (1,4%), Letonia (1,15%) y Rumania (1%). A ellos hay que añadir a Portugal (1,65%) y Grecia (0,85%).
En todo caso, España está por delante de Alemania (ligeramente por encima del 0,4%), Francia (0,55%), Italia (0,65%) o Reino Unido (0,30%).
En el conjunto de la UE, alcanzar el objetivo de renovables para 2020 creará alrededor de 1,4 millones de empleos adicionales. En total, 2,8 millones de personas trabajarán en esa fecha en renovables ya que en la actualidad el sector da ya trabajo a 1,4 millones de personas.
"Si tenemos en cuenta que las energías renovables reemplazarán a otras energías, como las que importamos del exterior, está claro que ese dinero que ahora va a parar a los países productores se quedará en la economía europea para la creación de empleo y el crecimiento económico", comentó el portavoz de Energía de la CE, Ferrán Tarradelas.
Desde 1990, la cifra total de empleo en el sector de las energías renovables ha crecido un 40%, con 900.000 puestos de trabajo creados en pymes, explicó la CE.
El estudio de ña Comisión Europea concluye que los efectos netos del aumento de la cuota de renovables para la economía en su conjunto también serán positivos. La aplicación del objetivo de renovables se traducirá en un crecimiento neto adicional del PIB del 0,24% en el conjunto de la UE en 2020.
España será el quinto país comunitario donde más crezca el PIB gracias a las renovables, en concreto, alrededor del 0,4%. Sólo le superarán en este caso Rumania, Grecia, Portugal y Finlandia.
El comisario de Energía, Andris Piebalgs, aseguró que estos resultados demuestran que "los beneficios de las renovables en materia de seguridad de suministro y de lucha contra el cambio climático pueden ir de la mano con beneficios económicos".
En 2005, el sector de las energías renovables daba trabajo a alrededor de 1,4 millones de personas en toda la UE, con un valor añadido bruto de 58.000 millones de euros. Las tecnologías eólicas, hídricas y relacionadas con la biomasa son, en estos momentos, las más importantes para el empleo, aunque la situación varía mucho de un Estado miembro a otro, según el informe.
España mantiene su posición de quinto país más atractivo del mundo para invertir en energías renovables, según la última revisión elaborado por Ernst&Young. El país se sitúa por detrás de EE UU, Alemania, China e India y por delante de Italia, Reino Unido, Francia y Canadá. El estudio asigna además al país el segundo puesto en energía solar, a pesar de la nueva regulación que ralentiza al fuerte crecimiento de este sector mediante el establecimiento de un cupo anual de 500 megavatios (MW) de potencia fotovoltaica.
En cuanto a la eólica marina, Alemania se sitúa con ventaja en la primera posición de la clasificación mundial, en la que España no aparece todavía entre las diez primeras posiciones. El Ministerio de Industria se ha planteado como objetivo que en 2030 el país cuente con 5.000 MW eólicos en el mar, objetivo que la Asociación Empresarial Eólica (AEE) cree posible alcanzar en 2020.
La Unión Europea crece a un ritmo rápido en energía eólica. En 2008 se instalaron 8.447,1 MW, frente a los 8.289,7 MW de 2007 y los 7.394 MW de 2006.
En España ya existen proyectos para invertir en torno a 10.000 millones de euros en parques eólicos marinos, después de que el Gobierno anunciara recientemente que ya ha aprobado el estudio estratégico correspondiente.
Las empresas renovables en España han generado 81.108 puestos de trabajo directos, principalmente relacionados con la energía eólica, que ha generado 40.000 empleos, y con la fotovoltaica, con 17.000 puestos de trabajo, aunque la nueva regulación está teniendo efectos muy negativos.
Las inversiones en energías renovables superaron en 2008, por primera vez en la historia, a las destinadas a combustibles fósiles, y totalizaron unos 110.000 millones de euros, según informó el Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente (PNUD). Esa cifra cuadruplicó las inversiones en energías renovables de 2004, pese a las condiciones de extrema dificultad que los mercados financieros experimentaron el año pasado por la crisis económica mundial.
Achim Steiner, vicesecretario general de la ONU y director ejecutivo del PNUD, afirmó que la crisis económica hizo que la inversión en Estados Unidos cayera un 2%, mientras que en Europa el crecimiento fue mucho más moderado.
Pero el director del PNUD destacó que "en 2008 tuvimos buenos datos, especialmente en economías en desarrollo. China se convirtió en el segundo mayor mercado mundial de energía eólica en términos de nueva capacidad y el mayor fabricante de productos fotovoltaicos".
Steiner también subrayó que en otros países, como Brasil, Chile, Perú y Filipinas, se trabaja para desarrollar políticas y leyes para fomentar la energía sostenible.
La energía eólica atrajo la mayor cantidad de nuevas inversiones, unos 36.500 millones de euros, lo que supone un crecimiento del 1% con respecto a 2007. Pero la energía solar fue la que experimentó el mayor crecimiento, un 49%, al destinar unos 23.600 millones de euros. Sin embargo, la inversión en biocombustibles se redujo un 9% y totalizó unos 12.000 millones de euros el pasado año.
Por regiones, Europa invirtió en energías renovables unos 35.000 millones de euros en 2008, lo que supuso un aumento del 2% con respecto al año anterior, mientras que Norteamérica destinó 21.200 millones, lo que significó una reducción del 8%.
Sin embargo, en los países en desarrollo, las inversiones aumentaron un 27% hasta alcanzar los 25.800 millones de euros, casi un tercio de las totales.
Otro de los principales datos es que el valor total de las transacciones del sector de energías sostenibles en 2008 fue de 157.400 millones de euros, un 7% más que el año anterior.
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Commission’s study finds out that European 20% renewables target can give jobs to 2.8 million people
Reaching the 2020 renewable energy targets is expected to lead to around 2.8 million jobs in the renewable energy sector and generate a total value added of around 1.1% of GDP.
This is the main conclusion of a European Commission’s study on the impact of renewable energy policy on economic growth and employment in the European Union (Employ-RES) which is available in the internet from today.
Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said: "This shows that benefits of renewables in terms of security of supply and fighting climate change can go hand in hand with economic benefits".
In 2005, the renewable energy sector employed 1.4 million people with a gross value added of 58 billion EUR. The significance of the sector varies strongly among Member States. Biomass, wind and hydro technologies are currently the most important for employment.
In the future significantly more people are expected to be employed in the renewable energy sector, especially in the Member States that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. Net effects for the overall economy are also expected to be positive.
According to the study, the implementation of the renewable energy policy will generate about 410,000 additional jobs and 0.24% additional GDP in the EU-27 in 2020.
The study underlines that stronger policies are needed to reap maximum economic benefits from renewable energy. More innovative technologies such as photovoltaic, offshore wind, solar thermal electricity and second-generation biofuels require more financial support in the short term, but are precisely the key to achieving the EU’s 2020 target, which in turn will help maintain the EU’s current competitive position in the global market and to increase employment and GDP in the mid term.
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Landmark New Report Says Emerging Green Economy Could Create Tens of Millions of New "Green Jobs"
A new, landmark study on the impact of an emerging global "green economy" on the world of work says efforts to tackle climate change could result in the creation of millions of new "green jobs" in the coming decades.
The new report entitled Green Jobs: Towards Decent work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World, says changing patterns of employment and investment resulting from efforts to reduce climate change and its effects are already generating new jobs in many sectors and economies, and could create millions more in both developed and developing countries.
However, the report also finds that the process of climate change, already underway, will continue to have negative effects on workers and their families, especially those whose livelihoods depend on agriculture and tourism. Action to tackle climate change as well as to cope with its effects is therefore urgent and should be designed to generate decent jobs.
Though the report is generally optimistic about the creation of new jobs to address climate change, it also warns that many of these new jobs can be "dirty, dangerous and difficult". Sectors of concern, especially but not exclusively in developing economies, include agriculture and recycling where all too often low pay, insecure employment contracts and exposure to health hazardous materials needs to change fast.
What’s more, it says too few green jobs are being created for the most vulnerable: the 1.3 billion working poor (43 per cent of the global workforce) in the world with earnings too low to lift them and their dependants above the poverty threshold of US$2 per person, per day, or for the estimated 500 million youth who will be seeking work over the next 10 years.
Green jobs reduce the environmental impact of enterprises and economic sectors, ultimately to levels that are sustainable. The report focuses on "green jobs" in agriculture, industry, services and administration that contribute to preserving or restoring the quality of the environment. It also calls for measures to ensure that they constitute "decent work" that helps reduce poverty while protecting the environment.
The report says that climate change itself, adaptation to it and efforts to arrest it by reducing emissions have far-reaching implications for economic and social development, for production and consumption patterns and thus for employment, incomes and poverty reduction. These implications harbour both major risks and opportunities for working people in all countries, but particularly for the most vulnerable in the least developed countries and in small island States.
The report calls for "just transitions" for those affected by transformation to a green economy and for those who must also adapt to climate change with access to alternative economic and employment opportunities for enterprises and workers. According to the report, meaningful social dialogue between government, workers and employers will be essential not only to ease tensions and support better informed and more coherent environmental, economic and social policies, but for all social partners to be involved in the development of such policies.
Among other key findings in the report:
– The global market for environmental products and services is projected to double from US$1,370 billion (1.37 trillion) per year at present to US$2,740 billion (2.74 trillion) by 2020, according to a study cited in the report.
– Half of this market is in energy efficiency and the balance in sustainable transport, water supply, sanitation and waste management. In Germany for example, environmental technology is to grow fourfold to 16 per cent of industrial output by 2030, with employment in this sector surpassing that in the country’s big machine tool and automotive industries.
– Sectors that will be particularly important in terms of their environmental, economic and employment impact are energy supply, in particular renewable energy, buildings and construction, transportation,basic industries, agriculture and forestry.
– Clean technologies are already the third largest sector for venture capital after information and biotechnology in the United States, while green venture capital in China more than doubled to 19 per cent of total investment in recent years.
– 2.3 million people have in recent years found new jobs in the renewable energy sector alone, and the potential for job growth in the sector is huge. Employment in alternative energies may rise to 2.1 million in wind and 6.3 million in solar power by 2030.
– Renewable energy generates more jobs than employment in fossil fuels. Projected investments of US$630 billion by 2030 would translate into at least 20 million additional jobs in the renewable energy sector.
– In agriculture, 12 million could be employed in biomass for energy and related industries. In a country like Venezuela, an ethanol blend of 10 per cent in fuels might provide one million jobs in the sugar cane sector by 2012.
– A worldwide transition to energy-efficient buildings would create millions of jobs, as well as "greening" existing employment for many of the estimated 111 million people already working in the construction sector.
– Investments in improved energy efficiency in buildings could generate an additional 2-3.5 million green jobs in Europe and the United States alone, with the potential much higher in developing countries.
– Recycling and waste management employs an estimated 10 million in China and 500,000 in Brazil today. This sector is expected to grow rapidly in many countries in the face of escalating commodity prices.
The report provides examples of massive green jobs creation, throughout the world, such as: 600,000 people in China who are already employed in solar thermal making and installing products such as solar water heaters; in Nigeria, a bio fuels industry based on cassava and sugar cane crops might sustain an industry employing 200,000 people; India could generate 900,000 jobs by 2025 in biomass gasification of which 300,000 would be in the manufacturing of stoves and 600,000 in areas such as processing into briquettes and pellets and the fuel supply chain; and in South Africa, 25,000 previously unemployed people are now employed in conservation as part of the ‘Working for Water’ initiative.
Pathways to green jobs and decent work
"A sustainable economy can no longer externalize environmental and social costs. The price society pays for the consequences of pollution or ill health for example, must be reflected in the prices paid in the marketplace. Green jobs therefore need to be decent work", the report says.
The report recommends a number of pathways to a more sustainable future directing investment to low-cost measures that should be taken immediately including: assessing the potential for green jobs and monitoring progress to provide a framework for policy and investment; addressing the current skills bottleneck by meeting skill requirements because available technology and resources for investments can only be deployed effectively with qualified entrepreneurs and skilled workers; and ensuring individual enterprises’ and economic sectors’ contribution to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases with labour-management initiatives to green workplaces.
The report finds that green markets have thrived and transformation has advanced most where there has been strong and consistent political support at the highest level, including targets, penalties and incentives such as feed-in laws and efficiency standards for buildings and appliances as well as proactive research and development.
The report says that delivery of a deep and decisive new climate agreement when countries meet for the crucial UN climate convention meeting in Copenhagen in late 2009 will be vital for accelerating green job growth.
The report was funded and commissioned by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) under a joint Green Jobs Initiative with the International Labour Office (ILO), and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Organization of Employers (IOE), which together represent millions of workers and employers worldwide 2/. It was produced by the Worldwatch Institute, with technical assistance from the Cornell University Global Labour Institute.
The Green Jobs Initiative is a partnership established in 2007 between UNEP, the ILO and the ITUC, joined by the IOE in 2008. The Initiative was launched in order to promote opportunity, equity and just transitions, to mobilize governments, employers and workers to engage in dialogue on coherent policies and effective programs leading to a green economy with green jobs and decent work for all. The ILO is a tripartite UN agency that brings together governments, employers and workers of its member states in common action to promote decent work throughout the world. IOE is recognized as the only organization at the international level that represents the interests of business in the labor and social policy fields. Today, it consists of 146 national employer organizations from 138 countries from all over the world. ITUC is the International Trade Union Confederation. Its primary mission is the promotion and defense of workers’ rights and interests, through international cooperation between trade unions, global campaigning and advocacy within the major global institutions. The ITUC represents 168 million workers in 155 countries and territories and has 311 national affiliates. UNEP is the voice for the environment in the United Nations system. It is an advocate, educator, catalyst and facilitator, promoting the wise use of the planet’s natural assets for sustainable development.
ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/studies/doc/renewables/2009_employ_res_report.pdf
www.unep.org/labour_environment/PDFs/Greenjobs/UNEP-Green-Jobs-Summary-esp.pdf
www.unep.org/labour_environment/features/greenjobs-report.asp
