What makes work sustainable – both environmentally friendly and likely to continue? That question is the focus of new research from the Dukakis Center at Northeastern University’s Policy School, commissioned by the city of Boston to help it meet the ambitious goals of its climate action plan.
The plan lays out a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels in the city, achieve citywide carbon neutrality by 2050, and make the city resilient to future climate change. It aims to decarbonize buildings, electrify the transport system, improve the city network and strengthen coastal resilience. But getting there depends on the people: who will do the work and how will they be trained?
“Climate plans are like a puzzle,” said Joan Fitzgerald, a public policy professor at Northeastern who led the research. “And the last piece to put in place is often workforce development. » For Boston, this final piece of the puzzle comes with the release of the city’s Climate Ready Workforce Action Plan, which marks the culmination of a year-long research project conducted in partnership with the Dukakis Center, the Burning Glass Institute, TSK Energy Solutions and Community Labor United. Additionally, the plan incorporates feedback from 51 advisors, including city and state officials, training and education partners, labor partners, employer partners and community leaders.
One of the biggest challenges faced by researchers was how to define “green employment.” Take for example automobile mechanics. Fixing a gas-guzzling car may not seem like a climate-friendly role. But as electric vehicles become more common, mechanics are more likely to service them. (However, that doesn’t necessarily mean there will be more mechanic jobs overall, according to Fitzgerald; electric cars have fewer parts and don’t require as much maintenance.) The same is true for an HVAC technician: One day they might be installing a gas furnace, and the next, an energy-efficient electric heat pump. “These examples show how difficult it is to understand what a green job is,” Fitzgerald said.
To address this challenge, Northeastern used a new data set collected by the Burning Glass Institute, a data-driven think tank, to compile an inventory of jobs needed in the green economy and the skills these occupations need. “Imagine a data set with hundreds of millions of individual job postings,” said Stuart Andreason, executive director of the institute. “We look at job postings from around the world, identify the skills they contain and track their progress. »
Researchers found that while jobs like solar developer are undoubtedly part of the green workforce, many existing jobs could become green jobs with new or evolving skills. Construction workers may need training on energy-efficient building codes; Electricians may need to understand how to install electric vehicle chargers. As the country shifts away from fossil fuels to clean energy, green skills are becoming essential for workers across all sectors.
Drawing on both Burning Glass data and other publicly available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Dukakis Center Director Alicia Modestino then analyzed two key questions: How many workers will be needed for the projects and initiatives outlined in Boston’s climate action plan? And how many of these jobs will be filled by new workers entering the workforce or by workers who need to be replaced due to planned retirements?
Despite some of these uncertainties, it is clear that cities like Boston cannot be climate ready without a climate-responsive workforce. “And there are a limited number of programs and slots to equip workers with the green skills needed,” Modestino said. “The transition from entirely carbon-based jobs to those that require green skills or go entirely ‘green’ will be rapid…possibly creating a shortage of workers if cities don’t get a head start.
This type of analysis helps cities like Boston understand which jobs are growing, what skills those jobs require, and how to shape workforce training accordingly. “The problem is forecasting the needs. Is it both training new people to enter the green workforce and on-the-job training for people who are already in the workforce? That makes forecasting difficult,” Fitzgerald said.
In line with the environmental justice goals of Boston’s Green New Deal, researchers studied existing career opportunities for the city’s disadvantaged communities. These jobs run the gamut from designing and building climate-friendly infrastructure to community engagement.
Beyond identifying green jobs, Fitzgerald’s team also explored how workers can move up the career ladder and identified gaps in training programs.
One concern: Many existing green workforce programs do not have enough funding to provide salaries and support services to trainees. Once the funding ends, the career pipeline also ends. “One of our recommendations is that’s where cities can help,” Fitzgerald said. “If you have an effective training program but it relies on funding that can’t pay the trainees, then the city can cover the participants’ salaries. »
Despite the challenges, Boston’s Climate Ready Workforce Action Plan lays the foundation for other cities to turn their far-reaching climate goals into real, sustainable job opportunities. This report is the first of its kind, linking Boston’s climate agenda to economic opportunity, said Oliver Sellers-Garcia, environmental commissioner and director of the Green New Deal. “Our work to combat climate change will create good-paying jobs and a more inclusive workforce in Boston,” he said.
Northeastern University’s School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs (Policy School) offers master’s degrees that feature innovative, real-world explorations of our world’s most challenging climate, environmental, and sustainability issues. Through a combination of experiential learning, interdisciplinary research, and cutting-edge coursework, these programs prepare you for the next step in your career, using policy to address environmental and social justice in communities around the world. Learn with us at our campuses in Boston, Arlington (Metro DC), and Oakland.
