Clean energy businesses in Wisconsin added more than 380 workers in 2022 and are now employing 71,489 Wisconsinites, according to a new analysis of employment data released by the national, nonpartisan business group Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) and Evergreen Climate Innovations. The report comes after the one-year anniversary of the largest investment in climate and clean energy in history, which is already boosting clean energy jobs and businesses across the state and region.
The energy efficiency sector continued to lead with total jobs in Wisconsin exceeding more than 55,700 workers in 2022. The fastest growing sectors in 2022 in Wisconsin were grid and storage, and clean transportation, both growing by nearly 7%. Together, the two sectors added over 500 new jobs for a total of 6,307 workers.
According to the analysis, clean energy and clean transportation companies employed 734,753 Midwesterners at the end of 2022, growing by more than 25,000 jobs, a nearly 4% increase from 2021. Nationally, clean energy employment grew 4% to reach 3.3 million jobs, setting record employment highs two years after the pandemic-fueled unemployment crisis cost the industry more than 620,000 jobs.
Despite the recent growth, clean energy jobs still have significant room to expand in Wisconsin and the Midwest.
Other findings include:
- There was 3.6% growth in clean energy jobs in 2022 in the Midwest;
- The Midwest is now home to 734,753 clean energy jobs;
- There was 11.2% growth of jobs in the clean transportation sector in the Midwest, the region’s fastest-growing sector in 2022;
- Small businesses drive Wisconsin’s clean energy sector — in 2022, 69.3% of Wisconsin’s clean energy businesses employed fewer than 20 people; and
- 11.3% of Wisconsinites employed in clean energy are veterans.
For a full breakdown of clean energy jobs for every state in the Midwest, click here.
