Only directly requiring workers to train solves existential climate change.

The green (or clean) economy—the sector of the economy that produces goods or services with an environmental benefit—offers a path to lower emissions, greater resilience, and millions of jobs. However, its realization is heavily constrained by a training gap—a lack of sustained educational and workforce development programming that can support a consistent pipeline of talent for green careers. Confusion over what types of occupations and industries are even in the green economy limits targeted investments and hampers our ability to move beyond ad hoc, short-term funding. In turn, current and prospective workers may lack access to the type of training needed—the apprenticeships and internships, for instance, that are vital in many related skilled trades careers. And these workers may fail to develop the wide range of specific, generic, and transformative capacities, or green skills, that are necessary for an unencumbered transition to a more equitable and inclusive economic system (see Appendix 1). For example, nearly half of career and technical education programs in the U.S. do not offer training and certification in related industries. The challenge is even more severe when considering all the workers retiring or leaving skilled trades careers; in several infrastructure-related occupations, up to a quarter of workers leave their positions on average each year, compared to about 10 percent for all workers nationally.

Closing the education, training, and emissions gaps will require closing a fourth gap—one of uneven access to quality and empowering learning opportunities. This inequality gap impacts underrepresented and underserved groups—especially girls and women, indigenous populations, and people of color—who, due to long-standing structures of discrimination and historic trends of disinvestment, have fewer opportunities to gain the skills, experiences, and networks to participate and lead in economic and political life and decisionmaking. These inequalities—which some would also argue are civil rights issues—should not be overlooked in future federal climate strategies. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has suggested that social justice and equity are core aspects of any strategy to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Without simultaneously reducing racial and gender inequality, eradicating poverty, and multisolving other development challenges—challenges from which the U.S. is not removed—the country’s best laid climate plans will go unrealized because those people crucial to the innovation, design, and implementation of climate-friendly policies and programs were left behind.