Clean energy jobs in California now outnumber jobs in the fossil fuel industry 5 to 1, a new study has found, an increase driven by the state’s ever-expanding renewable energy and climate laws.
More than 512,000 people are employed in jobs related to clean energy — from installing solar panels to building electric cars — making the state home to 1 in 7 such jobs in the United States, the study found. Those numbers are expected to grow further in the coming years, as California further ramps up efforts to address climate change.
“The clean energy industry is a large and growing part of our economy, certainly here in California, but nationally as well,” said Bob Keefe, executive director of Environmental Entrepreneurs, a nonprofit group with offices in San Francisco and San Diego that compiled the data.
“With the right policies, we can keep these clean energy jobs growing in red states, blue states, purple states,” Keefe said, “and in every county in California from Humboldt to San Diego.”