Europe has reached a clean energy milestone, with wind and solar overtaking fossil fuels. While China dominates global jobs, what does this shift mean for jobs across the EU?
Despite Donald Trump describing clean energy as the "green new scam" in his remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, countries across the globe are investing more and more in the renewable energy industry, creating a multitude of job opportunities in the process.
According to a new report, Europe had 2.04 million renewable energy jobs in 2024, of which just under 1.8 million were in the European Union.
The 2025 study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) found that, in the year before, the EU's 27 member states together made up the third-largest "country or region" contributing to the world's renewable energy employment, at 10.8%.
China ranked first, accounting for 43.9% of the global renewable energy employment, while Asia (excluding China and India) was second, with 14.9%.
The need for jobs in the renewable energy sector is reflected by how much more is being produced.In 2025, wind and solar generated more EU electricity than fossil fuels for the first time, overtaking it by 1%, marking a "major milestone" in the transition to clean power, according to another new report by energy think tank Ember.
The EU's wind power sector was estimated to employ 279,100 people in 2024. Germany was the bloc's leading employer, with about 110,000 jobs, followed by Spain and Denmark.
It shows with the breadth of wind energy infrastructure too: Europe retains its position as the world's second-largest installer and second-largest manufacturer of wind equipment.
However, the offshore wind industry is still facing a range of difficulties, including rising costs, project cancellations, grid integration challenges and supply chain difficulties.
As for solar energy, in 2024, the sector reached a record 865,000 people working in the industry.
Despite this figure representing a slowdown to 5% year-on-year growth, it still outpaced the broader EU labour market's 0.8% growth, according to a 2025 SolarPower Europe report.
However, the EU solar workforce in 2025 was estimated to contract by 5%, falling from 865,000 jobs to around 825,000, the association found.
"This setback reflects both policy frameworks that fail to sufficiently attract solar investment and meet consumer demand in the post-energy crisis environment, and global production overcapacity, where European manufacturers face immense competitive pressure," the report noted.
In 2024, Germany remained the largest employer in this sector too, followed by Spain, Italy, and Poland.
But Germany still saw some of the largest employment declines in 2024, alongside the Netherlands and Poland.
Women remain underrepresented in the workforce
Despite some progress, women continued to be underrepresented in the renewable energy industry as of 2024.
Women hold 32% of full-time jobs in the renewable energy sector, higher than in oil and gas (23%) but still below the global workforce average of 43%.
These jobs remain concentrated in administrative roles and technical positions not related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics, with only 19% of senior management positions held by women.