More than one million people are now employed in Europe’s renewable energy industry after employment figures increased by a quarter for the sector in 2011
A European Commission report, titled The State of Renewable Energies in Europe, found the top sectors for employment were solid biomass, photovoltaic solar, and wind power.
In the UK, approximately 32,000 people were found to be employed in the industry – around a third of whom worked in wind energy, 6,000 in biogas and 5,000 in both solar and biofuels.
According to the report, the green energy sector in Europe has a combined turnover of more than €125bn, an increase of 15% on the previous year, with solar sales overtaking wind for the first time.