The study stated that emerging economies of Indonesia, South East Asia, Brazil, India, and South Asia currently have a large number of jobs in the fossil fuel sector. (Representative image)

Shifting away from fossil fuels could generate 5.4 lakh jobs in India by 20250, The Times of India has reported a study as saying. The shift could add 80 lakh jobs in the energy sector across the world by 2050, according to a paper published in One Earth journal.

If the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius is met, the number of jobs in India’s energy sector would increase from 8.6 lakh to 14 lakh by 2050.

“Climate action results in more jobs,” Dr Sandeep Pai, co-author of the paper told newspapers. The study used data from more than 50 countries, and researchers used an integrated assessment model to make job projections.

The rest of South Asia will add nearly 69,000 jobs and China will lose 27 lakh jobs.

“According to our study, the US and Middle East and North Africa are clear winners in terms of adding maximum numbers of jobs. They all add over a million jobs by 2050,” Pai told the publication

The study stated that the emerging economies of Indonesia, South East Asia, Brazil, India, and South Asia have a large number of jobs in the fossil fuel sector.

“…In our WB2C (global temperature rise well below 2°C) scenarios, while their fossil fuel jobs decrease, the increase in energy demand and massive deployment of renewables leads to an overall rise in jobs,” the paper said.