A recent study shows that that jobs in renewable energy are expanding worldwide, while jobs in coal and natural gas are disappearing. 

Currently about 2.3 million people around the world work either directly in renewables, or indirectly in supplier indus­tries, according to the Worldwatch Institute.

Renewables tend to be a labor-intensive energy source, more so than the fossil fuels industry, which relies heavily on expensive pieces of pro­duction equipment. A transition toward renewable energy hence shows promise of a more robust job market.

During the past two decades, coal output in the U.S. rose by almost one third, yet employment has been cut in half. Membership of the United Mine Workers of America has withered from 167,000 active members in 1980 to 16,000 today.

The coal industry has shed hundreds of thousands of jobs at home as well as abroad, in China, Germany, Britain, and South Africa over the past few decades, according to the National Mining Association.

According to the United Nations, global investors poured $148 billion into new wind, solar and other alternative energy assets in 2007, labeling this movement a “green energy gold rush”. The spike in investment soars 60 percent above 2006 similar project levels.

“With world temperatures and fossil fuel prices climbing higher, it is increasingly obvious to the public and investors alike that the transition to a low-carbon society is both a global imperative and an inevitability,” U.N. Undersecretary-General Achim Steiner said.