Socio-economic impact
The energy transition serves as much a socio-economic transformation as a technological one. As the world shifts from fossil-based to renewable sources, it reshapes labour markets, redistributes economic activity across regions, and influences how widely the benefits are shared. Renewable energy already supports 16.6 million jobs worldwide, a figure that could reach 30 million by 2030.
This transformation also takes place against persistent energy poverty: some 655 million people still lack electricity and around 2 billion rely on polluting fuels for cooking, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. For these populations, renewables, particularly distributed solutions such as mini-grids and off-grid solar, provide an effective route to energy access and improvements in health, education and income. In cases where communities own such projects, more of the value remains local, including revenue, employment and a role in decision-making.
Understanding how the transition generates benefits beyond energy alone leads to policies that deliver multiple advantages for society. IRENA's analysis assesses these benefits across four interconnected dimensions: employment, macroeconomic growth, gender equity and local value creation. Beyond employment, global GDP is projected to grow around 1.5% faster each year to 2050 than under current energy plans, as the public investment behind the transition strengthens economic resilience and public services, spreading the benefits well beyond the energy sector. The sector also employs a higher share of women than the fossil fuel industry, at 32% of jobs, though still below their share of the wider economy.
These gains are neither automatic nor evenly distributed. Renewable energy jobs remain concentrated, with five countries accounting for most of the global total, and the wider benefits may not reach every worker or region. Realising a just energy transition therefore depends on deliberate policy: distributing benefits and burdens fairly, supporting workers in affected industries, helping countries capture more value along the value chain, and developing skills for broad participation, so that its gains are shared more evenly and no one is left behind.
