Quick action from governments can drive energy efficiency jobs boom

PRESS RELEASE

The Energy Efficiency Council and the Property Council of Australia are calling on state and federal governments to prioritise energy efficiency measures in the effort to restart Australia’s economy.

The Energy Efficiency Council’s CEO, Luke Menzel, said projects that upgrade the energy performance of buildings and businesses in the manufacturing, resources and agriculture sectors are shovel ready, boost productivity and drive employment.

“Energy efficiency investment creates jobs. Analysis from 2019 found that a focused effort to implement basic energy efficiency improvements to Australian homes and businesses could create well over 100,000 ‘job years’ of work.”

“We need to act to take advantage of energy efficiency’s big job multiplier. Governments that have plans to extend or expand existing energy efficiency programs should bring that work forward. All other governments should make scaling up their energy efficiency programs a top priority.”

There are huge opportunities to create and retain energy efficiency jobs in the property and construction sector said Ken Morrison, the Property Council’s Chief Executive.

“Upgrading Australia’s energy inefficient stock – hotels, shopping centres, lower-grade offices and older residential housing for example – would requires significant labour from the construction and services sectors.”

“Dedicated stimulus measures supporting energy efficiency, improved resilience and accessibility can deliver rapid economic benefits by boosting employment for sole traders and small-to-medium enterprises, while lowering energy costs, improving health and wellbeing outcomes and driving down emissions,” Morrison says.

“We know this strategy delivers dividends. California has almost 520,000 clean energy jobs across energy efficiency, renewable energy, smart grid and next generation vehicles. Almost 60 per cent of these jobs – more than 310,000 – are in energy efficiency.”