Cambridge Business Association
Impact of the Decarbonisation of the Energy System on Employment in Europe
Report

Impact of the Decarbonisation of the Energy System on Employment in Europe

Arno Behrens, Caroline Coulie, Fabio Genoese, Monica Alessi, Julian Wieczorkiewicz and Christian Egenhofer
CEPS, 2014
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Analytical
  • Innovative

Recommendation

The European Union’s evolution to sustainable green energy will affect its job growth and economic development. This thorough, data-dependent, multidisciplinary report from the Centre for European Policy Studies, a leading European think tank, provides welcome insights into what that transition will entail. The study concludes that green energy should create more and better-paying jobs in Poland, Sweden and Spain, the EU countries it analyzes, along with greater energy security through the expanded use of wind, nuclear and solar power. Though the text can be dry and plodding at times, getAbstract recommends its instructive conclusions to executives, policy makers, environmentalists and investors seeking evidence that sustainable energy can produce jobs.

Summary

Renewable Energy Sources

Europe is a world leader in addressing hard questions about global warming and assessing the impact of renewable energy sources (RES) – also known as green energy – on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and curbing society’s reliance on oil and coal. The European Union codified a formal energy policy statement endorsing sustainability, access to a constant energy supply as well as low energy costs that could make EU members economically competitive.

This is more than a mere political declaration. The EU has set the goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 80% of 1990 levels by 2050. Efforts to cut fossil-fuel use clearly tie into reducing greenhouse gas emissions; the link between transitioning to RES and maintaining high employment is more difficult to calculate.

To investigate the connection between business and employment and the EU’s increasing adoption of RES, the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) examined the effects that several major trends would have on the EU’s employment outlook up to the year 2050. Its analysis includes the way the decarbonization of EU energy sources influences the “socioecological transition” facing...

About the Authors

Arno Behrens heads energy research at the Centre for European Policy Studies, where Fabio Genoese is a research fellow, Monica Alessi is a program manager, Julian Wieczorkiewicz and Caroline Coulie are research assistants, and Christian Egenhofer is a senior research fellow.

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