Reskilling for the Future: Labour Market Shifts in the Energy Transition 

As the world transitions from fossil fuels to renewable energy, the energy transition is reshaping labour markets, economies, and governance structures at multiple scales— local, national, regional, and global. This structural shift involves not only changes in resource utilisation and control but also a realignment of energy policies, driving new patterns of economic development, job creation, and unemployment—thus influencing existing inequalities. In the Global South, where labour markets are highly diverse and often informal, the stakes of this transition are especially high. 

On the one hand, multilateral institutions and other research institutions adopting global, regional, or national approaches, put forward wide-ranging estimates for the number of jobs that will be gained and lost by the energy transition. In policy circles, the dominant response to managing labour market shifts has been to retrain workers displaced from fossil fuel-dependent jobs for roles in green industries. However, past economic transitions have shown that moving workers from dying to emerging industries is not a smooth or straightforward process. 

The spatial and socio-economic distribution of a greener economy is still unknown in most countries, especially in the Global South. Questions about how to reskill workers to undertake this transition, which regions and workers will benefit or lose, and how to design energy and decarbonisation policies that protect marginalised communities, are still unanswered. The lack of a robust policy framework to navigate this shift raises concerns about deepening inequalities if these challenges are not addressed, despite progressive possibilities inherent in the transition. 

This webinar addresses these critical gaps, focusing on the impact of energy transition and decarbonisation on labour markets in the Global South.