With the right moves, India’s renewables push could lift thousands of rural workers out of poverty
India’s major renewable energy push could be as much about poverty reduction and job creation as it is about energy security and climate change.
The Narendra Modi government aims to install 175 gigawatts (GW, 1 GW = 1,000 megawatts) of renewable energy capacity in the country by 2022—and this is expected to create over 330,000 jobs over the next five years.
“Although direct employment benefits will not be large, relative to India’s economy and its millions of poor citizens, the new jobs can make a difference to rural poor people, especially women, who have few formal sector employment opportunities,” according to a report (pdf) by the US-based World Resources Institute (WRI).
photo credit: DFID - UK Department for International Development