King Juan Carlos University Study Debunked
The Distortion
American oil companies, fervent opponents of any clean energy legislation, have perpetuated myths about green jobs erroneously suggesting that they somehow detract from overall job growth. These conglomerates often cite a widely panned study by King Juan Carlos University about green jobs in Spain while spreading these lies.
The Truth
Green jobs will add millions of new jobs to the United States economy. These are jobs that cannot be exported overseas and will remain exclusively American. Oil conglomerates fear that clean energy jobs will hurt their record profit margins and force America towards a less fossil-fuel dependent future.
According to the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) the Juan Carlos University report fails to account for numerous important factors when reaching its conclusion. The NREL concluded that the study has little predictive validity for the introduction of green jobs in the United States. The report has been questioned by media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal and Reuters and the author of the study is linked to the climate change denying Heartland Institute and the heavily Exxon-Mobil funded Center for New Europe.
You can follow this link to read more about that study.
Investment in the clean energy sector will create more than three times as many jobs as investment in fossil fuels. According to the Center for American Progress, 16.7 green jobs are created per $1 million invested while only 5.3 fossil-fuel related jobs are created with the same money spent. So an investment in the American economy like the Kerry-Boxer bill would create literally millions of new American jobs. A flawed study of the Spanish economy has no bearing on that fact.
