Browse Research

The Managing a Sustainable Transition to a Low-carbon Society: The socio-economic impacts of mitigation policies policy brief looks at how to identify and manage the expected and unintended socio-economic impacts of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation policies.

The Circular Economy - a Powerful Force for Climate Mitigation report investigates how a more circular economy can contribute to cutting CO2 emissions. It explores a broad range of opportunities for the four largest materials in terms of emissions and two large use segments for these materials.

The Corporate Sourcing of Renewables: Market and industry trends report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) highlights the latest trends and provides recommendations to more fully exploit such potential.

Against the background of potentially substantial sea-level rise, one important question is to what extent are coastal societies able to adapt? This question is often answered in the negative by referring to sinking islands and submerged megacities. Although these risks are real, the picture is incomplete because it lacks consideration of adaptation.

In The Ability of Societies to Adapt to Twenty-First-Century Sea-Level Rise the authors integrate perspectives from coastal engineering, economics, finance and social sciences, and provide a comparative analysis of a set of cases that vary in terms of technological limits, economic and financial barriers to adaptation and social conflicts.

 

Renewable Energy and Jobs – Annual Review 2016 presents the status of renewable energy employment, both by technology and in selected countries, over the past year. In this third edition, IRENA estimates that renewable energy employed 8.1 million people around the world in 2015 (excluding large hydropower). This is a 5% increase from the number reported the previous year. In addition, IRENA conducted a second global estimate of large hydropower employment, showing approximately 1.3 million direct jobs in the sector.

While the growth in jobs slowed down compared to previous years, the total number of jobs in renewables worldwide continued to rise, in stark contrast with depressed labour markets in the broader energy sector. Countries with the highest number of renewable energy jobs were China, Brazil, the United States, India, Japan and Germany.