Women make up a third of all employees in the renewable energy industry, putting the sector ahead of conventional energy and technology for gender equality. According to Clir Renewables, a leading provider of performance assessment software for renewable energy, companies must now commit to actively supporting and recruiting women in order to entrench gender equality at all levels alongside the industry’s growth.
Renewable energy has already seen a period of significant growth, breaking records for new capacity installed over 2020. Companies in this sector are starting to expand from small teams of tens or hundreds to multinational offices with thousands of employees.
However, unless companies take an active role in promoting diversity and equity in recruitment and leadership opportunities, this early advantage in gender parity could start to disappear, as it becomes harder to recruit enough women from the already small pool of renewable energy talent.
Bronwyn Sutton, Offshore Principal, Clir Renewables commented: “I’m proud to be part of a company which has championed diversity from day one. We, as an industry, have a great opportunity to define a culture which expects and drives for gender balance at all levels of the business, from board-level management to the engineering teams on the ground.”
Clir has committed to the Equal by 30 initiative, which aims for equal pay, equal leadership and equal opportunities for women in the clean energy sector by 2030. Clir has pledged to uphold its principles throughout its operations and recruitment. Currently, 40% of Clir’s engineering team and a third of its leadership board are women.
Gareth Brown, Chief Executive Officer, Clir Renewables agreed: “There is already such a gap between the number of roles needed to support renewable energy’s growth over the coming decade and the pool of engineers and data scientists with experience in the industry.
“At Clir, we take an active role in promoting inclusion throughout the recruitment process, from the language of our job opening ads to directly reaching out to talented women in not only renewables, but other sectors. A diverse range of backgrounds is key to making sure we can address concerns from a variety of perspectives and ultimately make sure renewable energy delivers a just transition for everyone.”