The Commonwealth Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (DISER) is delivering an inaugural Australian Energy Employment Report (AEER) to count the energy jobs in the sector and the coalition move is welcomed by the leading industry groups in a joint statement.

In October 2021, the RACE for 2030 report on Developing the Future Energy Workforce was released by the collaboration of the Energy Efficiency Council (EEC) and University of Technology Sydney- Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF). This report was completed with the support of the Australian Power Institute (API), Clean Energy Council (CEC) and Ai Group.

The report recommended the biennial release of the Australian Energy Employment Report, and this recommendation has been widely backed by the energy industry.

Purpose of AEER- Australian Energy Employment Report

The Australian Energy Employment Report (AEER) represents global leadership. Australia is the first country after the US to adopt the United States’ gold standard methodology. This technique is used for counting the energy sector jobs and to expand it to energy management jobs across Australia.

With the Australian Energy Employment Report, the energy industry and the Australian Government will be able to work collaboratively to avoid skills shortages and capture the economic opportunity as the country is proceeding to its net-zero goal in the energy sector.

Not only this, the report will give a holistic view of energy jobs in both SMEs, large renewable industries and mid-sized businesses. This, in turn, will provide granular detail on employment in the established sectors such as fuel generation and networks, energy storage, energy efficiency, electric vehicles, hydrogen and energy management. All of these are playing a significant role in boosting the Australian economy as well as the renewable sector.

Conclusion

The leadership teams at Ai Group, Australian Power Institute (API), Clean Energy Council (CEC), Energy Efficiency Council (EEC) and the University of Technology Sydney- Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) are looking forward to working collaboratively with the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources to deliver the inaugural Australian Energy Employment Report over the coming year.