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Africa’s green economy has the potential to create up to 3.3 million new direct green jobs across the continent by 2030, according to a new report.
The report, ‘Forecasting Green Jobs in Africa’ by Shortlist and FSD Africa, with analysis from the Boston Consulting Group was unveiled on July 24 covering five focus countries: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.
According to Mark Napier, CEO of FSD Africa, the report is of interetst because “there is a cross-sector effort across Africa to spur employment and sustainable development.”
“But stakeholders lack a shared, granular understanding of where the green jobs are going to come from. This report offers a methodology for forecasting green jobs which allows us to get practical about where we need to invest to make these jobs happen,” he explained in a press statement accompanying the report.
Key insights from the report indicate that job creation will focus on twelve green subsectors, primarily in renewable energy, particularly solar, e-mobility, sustainable agriculture, eco-friendly construction, and green manufacturing.
South Africa is projected to create the highest number of jobs, between 85000 and 275000 green jobs by 2030, mainly in energy, power generation, agriculture and nature sectors including conservation.
The solar industry is, however, projected to create the highest number of new employment opportunities by 2030, up to 140,000 new jobs.
South Africa’s REIPPP program is one of the most ambitious solar initiatives in Africa, generating over 2,500 MW of solar and wind energy in the past decade. Africa Solar Industry Association projects that each MW of solar power generated can create up to 30 full-time jobs.
This is critical considering the huge unemployment rates in the country where about 10.2 million people were aged between 15 and 24 years as of Q3 of 2023 out of whom 32.7% were neither in employment nor in education or training.
The program is scaling rapidly, boosting both energy output and job creation. In December 2023, South Africa launched REIPPPP Bid Window 7, targeting 5 GW of renewable energy from solar, wind, green hydrogen, and hydropower.
Nigeria is also projected to create between 60000 and 240000 new green jobs by 2030 mainly in aquaculture and poultry subsectors both of which have the potential to generate up to 69000 new job opportunities.
Aquaculture is emerging as a sector of interest in Africa, with global investors increasingly directing resources towards it, signaling confidence in its growth potential.
After Aqua-Spark launched a $300 million African aquaculture fund in 2021, it has grown into a successful venture supporting major projects in Madagascar, Mozambique, the Lake Harvest project in Southern and East Africa, and Kenya’s Aquarech.
Nigeria is especially grooming its aquaculture industry with projections by the World Aquaculture Society (WAS), through its African chapter, projecting the country’s aquaculture sector has the potential to generate an annual revenue of US$296 billion.
The country’s Blue Economy Strategy, a 2023 blueprint, places aquaculture at the core of its plan to harness the vast potential of the blue economy.
Beyond aquaculture, poultry farming stands as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s livestock industry, representing the most commercialized sector. According to the poultry association of Nigeria, the sector contributes over 25 percent to the Livestock Agricultural Gross Domestic Product (LAGDP).
“The industry has for the last five (Five) years, remained the No. 1 egg-producing nation in Africa and the No. 5 in Broiler Meat production in Africa,” Ichie Ezeobiora, the national president of the association explained in a recent press statement.
The authors of the report also explain that in Kenya, between 40000 and 240000 new jobs can be created by 2030. The solar sector is expected to lead this creation with an estimated 111000 jobs by the end of the decade. Ethiopia will see between 30,000 and 130,000 new green jobs while the DRC will put on between 15,000 to 45,000 new green jobs by 2030.
The quality of the projected new job opportunities varies from being skilled, semi-skilled to white collar. Notably, up to 60% of the new jobs will be skilled or white collar distributed as; 10% advanced jobs or highly skilled, 30% specialized jobs and 20% administrative jobs.
“Crucially, these job types tend to attract higher salaries and will, therefore, play a central role in spurring the growth of the middle class in countries hosting these high-growth sectors,” the authors explain.
Also, the stability of the unskilled jobs that is set to be created by these jobs is expected to provide significant opportunities for upward mobility. These positions will serve as stepping stones for candidates, enhancing their employability through access to training and valuable experience.
