The 2025 edition of IRENA’s Renewable energy and jobs series shows that renewable energy employment worldwide has continued to grow This twelfth edition, produced in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), estimates at least 16.6 million jobs in renewable energy employment globally.

Despite record capacity additions in 2024, employment growth was moderated by economies of scale; automation and other forms of technological innovation; excess equipment manufacturing capacity; and grid bottlenecks leading to curtailment of electricity generation.

This report finds that women still face barriers to hiring and career advancement, and people with disabilities are only just beginning to receive more opportunities. It concludes that the human side of renewable energy is still too often overlooked or taken for granted.

Continued growth in renewable energy deployment will keep adding to employment in the sector. This means that education and training need to be a key component of a comprehensive policy approach that brings together deployment support, finance and investment, industrial and trade policies for supply chain building, economic development and revitalisation, and inclusive workforce development.