Virus Slowing, Not Stopping Green Energy Jobs Boom

The renewable-energy industry could create more than a million jobs a year if countries invest enough to meet their target for cutting global carbon emissions, according to an advocacy organization.
Solar, wind and other forms of green energy could add 42 million jobs by 2050 if nations spend more aggressively to limit the increase in average global temperatures, the International Renewable Energy Agency said.
Governments should not relax their efforts even though air pollution has abated in places as a result of the coronavirus’s impact on economic activity, the Abu Dhabi-based agency said in a report released on Monday.
“This year will be very special because emissions will be decreasing,” Irena Director-General Francesco La Camera told reporters in a conference call. “But we have to be very careful about any rebound effect that can bring us on the wrong path. What we are calling for is to avoid the wrong policies that may compromise this vision of the future,” Bloomberg reported.
Under the 2015 Paris climate accord, governments aim to limit the increase in temperatures this century to less than 2 degrees Celsius. The use of fossil fuels is widely blamed for contributing to global warming, and Irena promotes renewables as a way to minimize climate change.