HOW MANY JOBS WILL BE LOST BECAUSE OF THE TRANSITION TO RENEWABLE ENERGY?

No other country in the world uses as much brown coal (lignite) as Germany: This combustible rock that is formed from the natural compression of peat has been responsible for approximately onefifth of the country’s total CO2 emissions. (The heat content of lignite is also relatively low, as compared with other varieties.) In signing the Paris Climate Agreement, the German government made a commitment to cut its CO2 emissions by more than half by the year 2030. But the implementation of that goal is progressing at a slow pace. One of the arguments made in favor of a slowdown is that the implementation would endanger jobs. Some 20,000 people work in Germany’s lignite industry. But compared with the almost 340,000 jobs available in renewable energy, that is a relatively small number, and halting the implementation threatens those very jobs. Climate expert Volker Quaschning says: “The contribution of China’s competition in renewable energy, which along with political uncertainty has resulted in an 80 percent reduction in the domestic photovoltaic industry, has caused a loss of 80,000 jobs. In addition, more than 40,000 jobs in the wind power industry are acutely threatened.”