Category: ECO_JOBS_CN

Reducing the workweek to four days could have a climate benefit, advocates say. In addition to improving the well-being of workers, they say slashing working hours may reduce carbon emissions.
It’s what you might call a “potential triple-dividend policy, so something that can benefit the economy, society and also the environment,” said Joe O’Connor, chief executive of the nonprofit group 4 Day Week Global. “There are not many policy interventions that are available to us that could potentially have the kind of transformative impact that reduced work time could have.”

The clean energy industry is booming. And companies need more licensed electricians who can install solar panels, electric vehicle chargers, battery storage, and more. Vaughan Woodruff is director of workforce development at New England-based ReVision Energy. He says the workforce needs to grow quickly in size and diversity.

Much of the fossil fuel industry continued to hemorrhage jobs last year, even as employment in the electric car sector increased dramatically, according to a report today from the Department of Energy.

A recent McKinsey report found that reaching net zero by 2050 could entail a 60 percent increase in capital spending on physical assets, compared with current levels. The required investments amount to $9.2 trillion per year until 2050, of which $6.5 trillion annually would go into low-emissions assets and enabling infrastructure. Our analysis also shows that growing demand for net-zero offerings could generate more than $12 trillion of annual sales by 2030 across 11 value pools, including transport ($2.3 trillion to $2.7 trillion per year), power ($1.0 trillion to $1.5 trillion), and hydrogen ($650 billion to $850 billion) (Exhibit 1). Such a transformation of the global economy could create significant growth potential for climate technologies and solutions.

This map compiles ZETA research to illustrate EV investments across the country. These private investments are creating tens of thousands of good-paying auto jobs that will reinvigorate communities, generating thousands of additional indirect jobs. And these investments aren’t the only financial benefits that will derive from electrifying the transportation sector: because of the climate and public health benefits of transportation electrification, achieving 100% EV sales by 2030 and a cleaner grid will prevent $1.3 trillion in health and environmental costs in the coming decades.

Long Island is poised to play a central role in the development of offshore wind (OSW) in New York State. Governor Cuomo has set an ambitious goal of 9,000 megawatts from OSW in New York by 2035, and at least three major OSW projects are to be sited off of Long Island. These projects offer the opportunity for significant economic development, creating a skilled green-economy workforce and establishing a foothold in what will be a major industry in the near future all while combating climate change and driving the state’s success in meeting its goal of 70 percent electricity from renewable energy by 2030.

Detroit, Michigan, needs more people who know how to make buildings more energy efficient. Sitara Govender of the non-profit Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency says there are more energy efficiency jobs available than workers with the skills to fill them.

President Biden used his first State of the Union address to reset his administration after a year of inflation and crises at home and abroad that has left him with nearly record-low approval ratings.

Six years ago, Samantha Cooper had a high-powered job in London’s Canary Wharf financial district and a hard-charging life to match it.

The Ørsted/Eversource project will power New York homes, but the turbine foundations are being fabricated in Rhode Island.