Employment impact assessment of renewable energy targets for electricity generation by 2020-An IO LCA approach

Energy sustainable strategies in Europe advocate increasing the share of electricity generated from renewable energy sources (RES-E) in response to the need of reducing Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. RES-E production is considered to have a prominent role in the crusade against climate change and in Europe's energy security. Renewable energy technology (RET) deployment is also sought for promoting a large number of jobs. Nevertheless, the exact number of jobs created is presented with large discrepancies across recent studies. The use of different methodologies but also the consideration of different assumptions even when the same methodology is applied has implications on the variability of employment estimates. This paper is aimed at providing a clearer understanding of what are the implications of government support for RES-E on jobs, and to see if current claims over employment benefits are too optimistic or even pessimistic in light of these findings. Taking Portugal as a case study, this paper conveys an assessment of the impact of renewable energy targets for electricity generation on employment for the years 2008-2020. The analysis is conducted by means of the Input-Output (IO) approach (quantity and price models) and considering the different life cycle stages of RES-E and conventional electricity (CE) power plants.