Biden’s Clean Energy Plan: Engineering jobs to benefit but project costs will rise – Saudi Gazette

Biden’s Clean Energy Plan: Engineering jobs to benefit but project costs will rise – Saudi Gazette

OSLO “” US presidential contender Joe Biden's Clean Energy Plan aims to achieve "net-zero“ greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a feat he proposes to bring to reality through the investment of $2 trillion across a multitude of sectors.

Jobs will be created, and the plan would shift domestic labor supply and demand fundamentals, a Rystad Energy analysis reveals.

"Regardless of the political implications, this ambitious strategy would cost the domestic upstream oil and gas industry greatly and propel green energy segments forward, changing the energy landscape in the United States," said Rystad Energy's Vice President at Energy Services Research, Matthew Fitzsimmons.

To execute the huge volume of work required, the Clean Energy Plan would draw on US engineering labor, an area which has seen steady growth over the last decade averaging a 2.6% increase per year.

In contrast, domestic engineering labor demand from the upstream oil and gas industry is usually quite cyclical, and typically fluctuates based on market conditions and operator workloads.

Since 2012, demand for engineering labor in the US has either remained flat or decreased. It is true that 2018-2019 showed the first year-over-year growth in domestic engineering demand for the US oil and gas industry, however, the COVID-19 pandemic has erased