New Industrial Age – Clean Tech

Posted on 20 February 2023

​There is a new era emerging in the world as a “new age of clean tech manufacturing”, which is set to have a market value of hundreds of billions per year before the end of the decade.

This prediction has come from a new report commissioned by the International Energy Agency. The Energy Technology Perspectives 2023 referred to a “dawning of a new industrial age”. The report looked at the manufacturing of technologies, including wind, solar, EV and hydrogen manufacturing.

IEA said its analysis showed that “the global market for key mass-manufactured clean energy technologies” could be worth an estimated $650 billion a year by 2030, more than three times the current value today.

However, the value and growth are still being determined according to the report. The analysis is based on countries around the world all implementing in full the pledges that have been made regarding climate change and energy. The likely outcome depends heavily on the political and financial commitment countries will put forward.

The level of employment needed will see a dramatic increase too. It is estimated that the number of jobs within the clean tech manufacturing industry will reach 14 million by 2030. That figure is more than double the current number of positions, which currently sits at 6 million.

While this is positive news for the growth of clean tech, the report highlighted some key issues that could cause growth to stall. Manufacturing is still hit with supply-chain problems, and the continuous geopolitical tension are contributing factor that could continue to derail progress.

Its report highlighted “potentially risky levels of concentration in clean energy supply chains — both for the manufacturing of technologies and the materials on which they rely.”

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the planet “would benefit from more diversified clean technology supply chains.”

“As we have seen with Europe’s reliance on Russian gas, when you depend too much on one company, one country or one trade route — you risk paying a heavy price if there is disruption,” he added.

Energy security is one of the biggest drivers of renewable energy. In order to grow the industry fully will require more collaboration across countries and building a more robust supply chain to help achieve the goals to combat climate change.

Get in touch if you are looking for talent to join your clean tech business.

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