UAE works towards 100,000 renewables jobs

The UAE is moving towards the creation of up to 100,000 jobs in the renewable energy sector by 2030.

That is according to Nawal Al Hosany, the UAE’s permanent representative to the International Renewable Energy Agency, which held its 15th council meeting in yesterday.

Ms Al Hosany said the 2030 figure was based on current estimates. It was not just about boosting renewable energy but also creating opportunities for young people and others as the UAE seeks to have 30 per cent of all power generation from clean sources by 2030.

“This is not new for the UAE. We started this in 2006 when we launched Masdar,” she told The National. “Having renewables and clean technology as a new sector is very important to our progress.”

Commenting on the growing awareness of the importance of recycling among the public and moves to remove plastic straws from restaurants, Ms Al Hosany said that addressing waste had always been a priority for the Government.

But it was important to implement this in a gradual way to encourage people.

“It’s a more successful model. We have invested in awareness and we have Sustainability Week every year.

“We have launched lots of programmes in schools so the youth are very aware of recycling. And we have started to build infrastructure for recycling in different emirates to handle recycling.”

Ms Al Hosany’s remarks came on the sidelines of the Irena meeting, where it was revealed that jobs in the renewable energy industry worldwide soared by 500,000 last year to reach 10.3 million – a

5.3 per cent increase on 2016. The Irena report, Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Review, showed that the number of jobs created had passed the 10 million mark for the first time.

Leading the charge are China, Brazil, the US, India, Germany and Japan – where 70 per cent of the jobs were created.

Sixty per cent of all renewable energy jobs are in Asia, the report revealed.

The solar industry accounted for most of the jobs at 3.4 million. China accounts for two thirds of these. It was followed by Japan, the US, India and Bangladesh.

China accounts for 44 per cent of global wind generation employment, while half of the top 10 countries with the largest installed capacity of wind power are in Europe.

The meeting heard from delegations across the world. It concludes today.