Jobs in Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, and Resilience

This fact sheet provides a comprehensive overview of employment statistics in the renewable energy, energy efficiency, and climate resilience sectors, focusing primarily on the United States while providing global comparisons. It utilizes data from various sources, including the U.S. Energy Employment Report (USEER) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), to detail job growth, sectoral distributions, and the challenges of quantifying emerging fields like climate adaptation.

• Energy efficiency is the fastest-growing energy sector in the United States. In 2018, 2,324,866 people were employed in this sector, an increase of over 124,800 jobs since 2016, representing a growth rate of 5.37 percent.
• Employment in the U.S. renewable energy sector varies by source; the 2019 U.S. Energy Employment Report (USEER) cited 611,000 people in zero-emission technology industries (including nuclear), while IRENA recorded 855,000 direct and indirect renewable energy jobs in 2018.
• Within the U.S. renewable energy sector, solar power is a major employer but saw a 3.2 percent decline in full-time positions (nearly 8,000 jobs) between 2017 and 2018, attributed partly to tariffs and uncertain state policies. Conversely, wind power employment increased by 4 percent to 111,166 jobs in 2018.
• Climate adaptation and resilience are rapidly emerging employment areas, though they lack standardized tracking codes in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) system. Preliminary analysis by the American Society of Adaptation Professionals (ASAP) indicates employment is primarily in government (40 percent), non-governmental organizations (36 percent), and the private sector (16 percent).
• Globally, the renewable energy sector employed 11 million people in 2018, an increase of 700,000 from 2017. China is the global leader with approximately 4,078,000 direct and indirect jobs, followed by Brazil (1,125,000), the United States (855,000), and India (719,000).
• Specific global leadership in renewable subsectors includes Brazil leading in liquid biofuels with 832,000 jobs (40 percent of the global total), and India leading in hydropower with 347,000 jobs.

APA

Environmental and Energy Study Institute (2019). Jobs in Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, and Resilience. https://www.eesi.org/files/FactSheet_REEE_Jobs_0719.pdf

Chicago

Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Jobs in Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, and Resilience. 2019. https://www.eesi.org/files/FactSheet_REEE_Jobs_0719.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |title=Jobs in Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, and Resilience |date=July 2019 |url=https://www.eesi.org/files/FactSheet_REEE_Jobs_0719.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{environmentalandenergystudyinstitute2019jobs, author = {{Environmental and Energy Study Institute}}, title = {{Jobs in Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, and Resilience}}, institution = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2019}, month = jul, url = {https://www.eesi.org/files/FactSheet_REEE_Jobs_0719.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }