COVID-19 dislodged the argument that change must happen slowly. When the world had to change overnight, it did. Now, as nations contemplate how to move forward, it seems clear the dismantling of “normal” presents an opportunity to chart a more resilient future--environmentally, socially, and economically. A key part of that is building a green and blue recovery, investing in renewable energy growth, and renewable energy jobs.
Global energy use dropped by an average of 20% each month after the lockdowns began, causing CO2 to fall to 2010 levels, according to an August report by the World Economic Forum. Obviously, this accompanies a devastating loss in jobs and productivity. But it’s a temporary lull; on the other side of this crisis, the demand for energy will surge again. By then we can have built more infrastructure to ensure that clean energy will be in place to meet that surge. This is not only an environmental issue; research shows that green and blue economic recoveries provide a greater and more long-lasting lift to the economy than brown ones.
Green job initiatives work
Following the 2009 global financial crisis, green stimulus policies generated more jobs, more quickly, than traditional economies, according to a paper by the Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment on the impact of COVID recovery on climate change. One model suggests that every $1 million (about €840,000) in spending generates roughly 7.6 full-time jobs in renewables, but only about 2.7 jobs in the fossil fuels industry. Part of that, of course, is because much of the clean energy infrastructure has yet to be built. Once the infrastructure is in place, the number of new jobs will shrink. But by then, the proliferation of these jobs would have helped pull the world out of the COVID recession and effected a huge part of the transition to cleaner, more affordable energy.
One organization leading the charge for a renewable recovery is Ocean Energy Europe, which has called for a target of 100 Megawatts of ocean energy to be installed by 2025. OEE would like to see 100 times that - 100 Gigawatts (GW) - installed by 2050, a goal they predict would create 400,000 jobs in Europe. These would be high quality and sustainable jobs, many of them using synergies and skills transfer from other maritime sectors—including oil and gas.
Bright future for ocean energy jobs
As a wave energy company, we’re clearly interested in the opportunities for ocean energy jobs.
Already Seabased has employed engineers, designers, programmers, biologists, electricians, manufacturers, installers and more. As we near certification, we’ll need people in supply chain, manufacture, deployment; all the roles necessary to make commercial distribution more accessible and affordable.
The EU Joint Research Centre 2018 Annual Economic Report on Blue Economy found that 1,350 direct jobs, and 500 full-time indirect jobs already exist in ocean energy across 16 countries. Many from the oil and gas industries are drawn to these jobs. In the year before COVID-19, oil and gas jobs had already fallen by 5% or 14,000. Many employees, knowing it is just a matter of time before their industry is retired, hope to shift to an emerging sector. This is especially true among younger people—Millennials and Generation Z—who prefer to work in clean energy. Ocean energy jobs would benefit inland areas as well as coastal ones, since the manufacture and supply chain may be located inland.
And the prospect for ocean energy is good. Between 2009 and 2019, the cumulative energy produced from wave and tidal stream has increased from less than 5 GWh to about 45 GWh, according to Ocean Energy Systems 2019 Annual Report. Judit Hecke, a member of the International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA’s) Innovation Team was interviewed by Power Magazine which characterized the coming decade as looking at a “stunning overhaul” in ocean energy. “There is up to around 3.7 GW of capacity in the pipeline at the moment,” Hecke said in the article. The majority of this capacity is tidal stream, with wave energy making up most of the balance. Despite the pandemic, she said, developers are gearing up to deploy up to 24 MW—15 MW of tidal stream and 9 MW of wave energy—with activity on every continent.
Ocean energy has considerable support from organizations like the United Nations, Ocean Energy Europe, and programs like the Ocean Energy Scale-Up Alliance. But with more policy support from governments and financial investment from all sectors, ocean energy could be part of a powerful recovery effort to help move the world out of the COVID recession.
Government support is crucial
'Clean energy is not just affordable and reliable, it also offers the highest return on investment,” said Charles Donovan, Director of the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment, Imperial College Business School, in an article about a green COVID recovery. “Investors have a growing appetite to put money to work in sustainable finance. Governments need to re-write the rules so that they can.”
Researchers interviewed dozens of senior central bank officials, senior development bank officials, senior members of finance/treasury ministries, expert academics, and think tank commentators for the Oxford paper. They were asked to identify industries that could both impact the climate positively and produce a large long-run economic multiplier--cause gains in total output greater than the change in spending that produced it. Clean energy infrastructure and clean energy R&D spending were both listed at the top. They were also frequently identified as the respondents’ preferred recovery policies.
Right now, Europe leads the way in ocean energy, a strategic advantage it must protect. According to Ocean Energy Europe, the global ocean energy market is estimated to be worth €53 billion. European companies hold over half of wave and tidal patents globally and are net patent exporters. Every €1 of EU and national public funding has leveraged €2.9 of private investments since 2007. This means now is the time for Europe to ensure these high-value blue economy renewable energy jobs are made available here. Governments have the power to create a structure either to support and encourage the investments that will lead to industry growth and maturity, or stunt them.
There is increasing attention paid to the world’s oceans—as is appropriate given they cover 70% of the earth’s surface. Starting 2021, the United Nations will launch a Decade of Ocean Science and Sustainable Development.
The potential for ocean energy and the opportunities for jobs and economic development have only begun to be explored. COVID-19 has given us the perfect chance to make that a priority.