Los Angeles-Orange County area leads the nation in clean-energy jobs, Inland Empire ranks 16th
The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana region is the nation’s top metro area for clean-energy jobs and the Inland Empire ranks 16th, according to a study released Tuesday by E2, a national organization of environmental entrepreneurs.
The state’s 519,000 clean-energy jobs are heavily focused in metro areas, where more than 430,000 of those jobs are located.
The greater Los Angeles region has 163,000 of the jobs and the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario area has 40,000, according to the study.
“Cities are seeing the benefits of shifting to clean energy, with jobs and economic growth,” said Bob Keefe, E2 executive director. “These are good jobs in energy efficiency, construction, manufacturing, renewable energy and clean fuels and vehicles.”
The industry group, whose members have founded or funded more than 2,500 companies, advocates for government policies that support clean-energy.
California ranking
California accounts for 16 percent of the 3.2 million clean-energy jobs nationwide but accounts for 24 percent of clean-energy jobs in the the study’s rundown of the top 50 metro areas. The state accounts for 12 percent of the nation’s population.
The New York metro area had the second most clean-energy jobs (137,000), followed by Chicago (95,000), Boston (88,000) and the San Francisco area (87,000). The San Jose area had 31,000.
California’s nation-leading efforts in clean energy were highlighted in an E2 study issued Sept. 11 focusing on the state.
“California supports more renewable energy jobs than the next top 7 states combined and has twice as many jobs in energy efficiency than the No. 2 state (Texas),” the report said. “Combined with this market domination, big opportunities remain for clean energy job growth in the state with the California Energy Commission passing requirements for solar panels on all new homes built after 2020 and legislation passed and signed into law in September 2018 that sets the state on the path to 100-percent clean energy by 2045.”