4 January 2013: The International Energy Agency – Renewable Energy Technology Deployment (IEA-RETD) Implementing Agreement has released a detailed study suggesting that renewable energy has a positive impact on job creation, and outlining guidelines aimed at calculating these impacts as well as for designing, implementing and evaluating energy policies.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) also contributed to the development of the guidelines, which were tested in IEA-RETD member state countries and Tunisia. Guidelines were prepared for four methodological approaches and are based on a broad review of the approaches to assess employment impacts of renewable energy deployment.

Although the study finds that renewable energy deployment generally positively impacts job creation, it notes that these impacts are dependant on regional and national circumstances, availability of RE technology, and the RE production cycle phase. It highlights the need for recent, disaggregated, technology and country-specific data. Assumptions used in relation to fossil fuel prices were also cited as an additional influencing factor.

The project’s three recommendations for policy makers are to: support further development of calculation models, and improve data availability and quality; treat employment impact studies figures cautiously since they are dependent on variables and assumptions; and use employment impact studies in a wider national socio-economic and environmental context.

RETD is a technology cross-cutting and policy-focused platform to accelerate the deployment of renewables with Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, and United Kingdom as member countries. [Publication: Methodological Guidelines for Estimating the Employment Impacts of Using Renewable Energies for Electricity Generation] [Publication: Review of Approaches for Employment Impact Assessment of Renewable Energy Deployment]