Nowhere will green jobs have more impact than in Africa, which is home to the world’s highest unemployment rates and largest population of young people- by 2030, the continent will be home to more than a quarter of the world’s population of under 25s, according to PWC.
African leaders have been calling for greater focus on supporting private sector investment to boost green industrialisation. In an opinion piece for The Guardian, William Ruto and Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber point out that high levels of existing debt and expensive borrowing costs mean that green industrialisation is the best way to finance the green transition and trigger inclusive growth with quality jobs.
At Maris we are investing in businesses that drive the green economy and are training our employees for the transition to renewable energy. Like Alex Mwanzo, one of our senior technical specialists, on electric drive trains, pictured above running diagnostics on a Baoli electric forklift.
Along with our sister company Equator Mobility, META Plant is investing in developing skills in Kenya and our other African markets to service electric drive trains and batteries for the coming mobility revolution. Next year we are set to open the Equator Mobility Service Centre, where engineers will maintain our growing fleet of electric vehicles and train a new generation of technicians.
“We mustn’t forget that the green transition could mean job insecurity for the hundreds of thousands of mechanics servicing internal combustion engines in the formal and informal sector across Africa,” says Andrew Fimister, Operations Director at Maris. “The service interval for electric vehicles can be 20,000km compared to 5,000km for typical diesel or petrol engines, and the servicing equipment required is distinctly different. This means vehicle-owners will rely on companies like Equator Mobility and META Plant for servicing and we will play a central role in job creation and re-training. A future of green jobs relies on responsible private sector investment and technical assistance support.”
Axios House hosted this event focusing on the global green workforce with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, U.S. deputy energy secretary David Turk, and Kenya Meteorology Department principal scientist Dr. Joyce Kimutai who highlighted the importance of developing green jobs. LinkedIn co-founder Allen Blue detailed how the green jobs market is booming compared to the oil and gas industry: “It’s almost like a mirror image. Rise in renewable energy, rise in green and climate jobs, reduction in oil and gas jobs.”