Africa is being left behind in the global race for jobs created by the renewable energy boom, a major new international report has revealed. While clean energy installations hit record highs worldwide in 2024, the continent is missing out on the economic benefits and employment opportunities, creating a dangerous imbalance.
Global Growth Masks Stark Regional Imbalance
This critical finding comes from the Renewable Energy and Jobs: Annual Review 2025, published jointly by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The data shows that worldwide employment in renewables grew by a modest 2.3 per cent in 2024, reaching 16.6 million jobs.
However, this overall figure hides severe regional disparities. China dominates the landscape, generating a staggering 7.3 million renewable energy jobs—that's 44 per cent of the global total. This powerhouse status is driven by its control over equipment manufacturing. In stark contrast, Africa's share remains marginal, a situation made more painful by the continent's enormous solar, wind, and other renewable resource potential and its rapidly growing demand for power.
Why Africa Remains a Consumer, Not a Creator
The report identifies several interconnected factors locking Africa into a disadvantageous position:
- Supply-Chain Imports: Africa largely imports finished renewable technologies like solar panels, rather than manufacturing them locally. This confines the continent to the lower-value segments of the supply chain, such as short-term installation and maintenance work, which offer less job security and lower pay.
- The Solar PV Example: Solar photovoltaics (PV) is the world's biggest renewable employer, supporting 7.3 million workers. Yet, 75 per cent of these jobs are in Asia. Without domestic production capacity, African nations cannot tap into this major job pool.
- Financing and Skills Gaps: High capital costs, difficult access to affordable finance, and underdeveloped technical training programmes continue to deter the large-scale investments needed for local manufacturing.
This pattern means Africa's energy transition is currently shaped more as a consumption market for foreign technology than as a production hub for its own growth. The report warns that without deliberate industrial strategies, the continent risks repeating the old, extractive economic model: exporting raw materials and importing expensive finished goods, capturing minimal value and jobs at home.
Social Legitimacy and the Path Forward
The marginalisation has serious social consequences. With millions of young Africans entering the labour market each year, there is immense pressure to create quality employment. The current structure of the global energy transition, however, is generating wealth and work primarily in nations that already lead in manufacturing and trade.
Furthermore, inclusion challenges persist. The report notes that women and people with disabilities are significantly under-represented in the renewable energy sector across African labour markets, facing barriers like limited training access and discriminatory norms.
Even regional leaders like South Africa, Morocco, and Egypt, which have accelerated renewable deployment, have seen only modest and uneven job gains that remain vulnerable to policy changes and currency instability.
The findings present a central dilemma for African policymakers: how to achieve universal energy access while also ensuring the continent gains meaningful economic participation—jobs, skills, and long-term industrial development—from the global shift to clean power. The report underscores that overcoming this will require:
- Stronger international cooperation and genuine technology transfer.
- Targeted industrial and trade policies to build local manufacturing.
- Focused efforts to develop skills and improve access to concessional finance.
Without these urgent steps, Africa risks powering the world's clean energy future without securing the prosperity that should come with it for its own people.
