More investment in renewable energy would create much-needed jobs at a time when the world is struggling with rising unemployment, experts said Monday.
Kandeh K Yumkella, director-general of the UN Industrial Development Organisation and Rajendra K Pachauri, chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, spoke at the start of a conference about energy issues in the context of the current global economic crisis.
"On a global scale, 2.3 million people have found jobs in the renewable energy sector over the past few years even though only about 2 per cent of worldwide primary energy flows from this sector," Yumkella said.
"So you can imagine with more investments in renewable energy how much more jobs we can create."
Pachauri, whose team shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore, said the global economy needed to be restructured in such a way that problems of the past could be avoided going forwarded.
"And what better way than to ensure that you bring about higher energy efficiency, which will generate a totally new sector of employment?" he said.
"What better way than to move toward greater use of renewable energy, which will also generate a lot of jobs and give you a sustainable solution for the future?"
