The United States is expected to see steady job growth as it transitions to a net-zero carbon economy, but this growth will be unevenly distributed, new research shows. The research, carried out by a team at Imperial College London, was published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The study highlights the need for new policies in specific countries to ensure a fair and just transition.
The United States, like many countries, is planning for a low-carbon future in which energy production releases almost no carbon dioxide and the carbon dioxide released is removed from the atmosphere, resulting in net-zero carbon emissions. This has been supported by new policies, including the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which includes significant investment in domestic clean energy production.
The shift to renewable energy is critical to curbing global heating, but its impact on jobs is uncertain. Now, researchers at Imperial College London have conducted an analysis to understand what types of jobs might be created at the state level and the social impacts of different scenarios for a low-carbon transition to the U.S. power system.
They found that decarbonization led to sustained job growth. However, major fossil fuel-producing states need to be prepared to reduce mining jobs by looking for other opportunities.
The analysis shows that employment outcomes for the lowest-skilled workers will be more uncertain, so states need to plan carefully to ensure that the energy transition is "just" - fair for everyone. However, there are considerable new opportunities for workers with some training in the utilities and construction industries.
The team also found that the renewable energy industry generally employs more women, which could boost gender equality in fossil fuel-dependent countries, but not enough to break the country's gender status quo.
Lead author Judy Jingwei Xie of the Center for Environmental Policy and the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London said: "Overall, our analysis is good news: some recent policies, such as the Lower Inflation Act, will lead to continued job growth. There are currently some states that are very dependent on fossil fuel production that may lose out, but they can use some tools to solve this problem and use this situation to transform themselves into leaders of the clean energy revolution."
"By increasing opportunities to retrain the existing workforce and training young people in low-carbon technologies, traditional coal-producing states like Wyoming can be at the forefront. The new U.S. Climate Corps can deliver these opportunities if it can provide targeted offset support to communities in need."
To conduct their analysis, the research team used the Regional Energy Development System (ReEDS) energy system model developed and maintained by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The model includes 70 detailed future energy system scenarios, which they fed into a model based on each state's energy profile and demographics to understand how those scenarios would impact employment in each state.
These broad scenarios include the U.S. long-term strategy, which aims to reduce carbon emissions from the electricity system by 100% by 2035 and show continued positive job growth. The team made their code public, allowing new policies to be integrated and models to be created for other countries and regions, given the correct input data.
Co-author Dr Iain Staffell, from the Center for Environmental Policy at Imperial, said: "The US Inflation Cut Act created some of the key conditions for big companies to make this switch. The US and China are leading the way on this, and if we in the UK are to share in this boom, we need similar policies to incentivize a rapid switch to clean energy, which will boost jobs and make progress towards global carbon reduction targets."
Compiled from /ScitechDaily