Climate Watch: Renewable energy sector generated 700k jobs globally in one year

Despite directly impacting our communities, health and livelihood, climate-related reports usually take a back seat to dominant news beats like politics and business. Climate Watch aims to ensure you never miss important stories on climate change and actions being taken towards limiting its impact.

Here is a round-up of last week’s climate stories: 

• In his last speech at UNGA77 as the president of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari emphasised among other things, the need for renewable energy projects to take center stage as the world transitions. He said development financial institutions should prioritise making credit facilities available for renewable energy projects. Buhari, who said the high cost of energy caused by the Russia-Ukraine war is affecting the whole world, added that no country should be left behind in the clean energy transition. Read here. 

• Despite the growing energy crisis, a new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in collaboration with the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) has shown that worldwide employment in the renewable energy sector reached 12.7 million last year. This is an increase of 700,000 new jobs in just 12 months.  The report found that solar energy was the fastest-growing sector which provided 4.3 million jobs in 2021, more than a third of the current global workforce in renewable energy.

• As houses are been submerged and huge swathes of farmlands destroyed by flooding, over half a million Nigerians have been affected. In Nasarawa,  upto 361,000 persons have been displaced by floods in eight LGAs. Zachary Allumaga, executive secretary of the state emergency management agency, said floods could possibly displace one million people in the state before the end of the rainy season. Find out more here. 

• In a similar development, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) asked that communities at risk of flooding in Rivers, Bayelsa and Cross River states be relocated to safer grounds. Godwin Tepikor, NEMA south-south zonal coordinator, said the constant warning alerts for flooding should cause state governments to prepare adequately as well as intensify efforts to mitigate the impact. Please read here. 

• “Anambra has become the erosion capital of Nigeria” — These were the words of Chukwuma Soludo, governor of Anambra, while making a case for federal government’s assistance on environmental degradation in the state. Speaking with journalists, last week, after meeting with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Soludo, said tackling the problem will require a lot of resources and if help is not gotten, Anambra could lose upto 40 percent of its land mass to the disaster. Find out more here. 

• As COP27 fast approaches, Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, said the conference has to deliver on the adaptation promises for developing countries. Speaking during a sideline event at the just concluded UN general assembly (UNGA77) in New York, Adesina said Africa is in great financial distress and resources must be made available to the continent in the shortest possible time. Read more here.