By Taylor Maag and Elan Sykes
Over the past two years, the Biden administration has made large national investments aimed at putting America ahead in the global race to develop clean energy industries and jobs. Investment is flowing all across the country, for projects like solar panel factories in Louisiana, energy-efficient apartment buildings in New York and electric vehicle battery factories sprouting everywhere from Georgia to Michigan.
This emphasis on a green transition comes at an important time. Just last week, our nation’s deadliest wildfire killed at least 111 people and destroyed Maui’s historic town of Lahaina. While detailed studies have not yet determined exactly how climate change influenced Maui’s fire, climate scientists have pointed to specific climate-driven factors, and existing attribution science suggests that climate change fuels warmer temperatures, less rainfall, stronger storms and powerful winds — increasing the likelihood of devastating events like this. It’s clear there is no time like the present to create a lower-emissions economy, mitigate climate impacts and protect public safety.
Yet, even with increased federal attention, implementing investments and new solutions has become difficult. One reason is our workforce. The rapidly growing clean energy sector is bumping up against serious labor constraints — facing challenges filling jobs and ensuring workers have the right skills for these positions. In the next seven years, there are expected to be over 550,000 new energy-transition jobs in the U.S. Just in 2022, U.S. green job postings on LinkedIn jumped 20% — yet, the pool of workers with the skills required to fill these jobs only grew by 8.4%.
This story was originally published in The Messenger on August 20, 2023.
