”Green” energy should create 20 mln jobs by 2030: U.N.

Development of alternative energy should create more than 20 million jobs around the world in coming decades as governments adopt policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a U.N. report released on Wednesday.

Some 2.3 million people already work in green energy jobs with half of them in biofuels, said the report “Green Jobs: Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World,” commissioned and funded by the U.N.’s Environment Program.
Creation of the jobs will depend on countries implementing and broadening policies, including capping emissions of greenhouse gases and shifting of subsidies from old energy forms to new ones, in the effort to slow global warming, it said.

The report was written before the U.S. credit crisis reshaped Wall Street and reverberated around the world, which could slow many sectors, including alternative energy.

It said some 12 million new jobs could be created by 2030 in biofuels-related agriculture and industry.

Reuters