Jobs responding to climate change are projected to increase by 118,000 over 10 years.
According to a paper published on the 18th in the Journal of the Korea Society of Climate Change Research, the total workforce in climate change response technologies is projected to rise from 284,000 in 2022 to 402,000 in 2032. That amounts to 41.6% growth over 10 years. The annual average growth rate was 3.6%.
The research team said, "Employment is expected to contract in many industries, including manufacturing," adding, "This indirectly shows that job transitions are occurring in other industrial fields due to changes in climate change response technologies."
The research team presented projections using the latest national statistics from the "survey on R&D activities in climate change response technologies." This survey classified climate change response technologies into mitigation (15) and adaptation (7).
According to the survey, the institutional sector expected to see the largest increase in personnel within mitigation was "power generation efficiency." It is projected to grow from 33,000 in 2022 to 75,000 in 2032.
The solar/thermal institutional sector is projected to grow 7.8% annually, and waste-to-energy (5.5%), transport efficiency (4.7%), and power/heat integration (3.5%) are also expected to see fast workforce growth.
In climate adaptation, the water institutional sector workforce is expected to increase from 24,000 in 2022 to 33,000 in 2032, an annual average of 3.3%. The agriculture, livestock, and fisheries institutional sector is expected to rise from 12,000 to 14,000, an annual average of 1.6%.
The research team said, "There will be a significant impact on the scale of workforce growth depending on changes in priorities due to a change of administration and on plans such as the 'national greenhouse gas reduction target' and the 'energy supply and demand plan,'" adding, "For the areas projected to see large increases in personnel, timely workforce development initiatives and policies are needed."