California Secures Federal Funding for a Climate-Ready Workforce

California is among nine U.S. states and territories selected to receive $60 million in federal funding as part of a major effort to build a national climate-ready workforce.

Investment from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will support job development efforts in coastal and Great Lakes communities across the country, including $9.5 million to establish the Council for Los Angeles County Climate Ready Employment at Long Beach City College.

The LBCC program will help develop training, internship and job placement services for occupations in the water and solar energy sectors that require workers, officials said. Similar programs were announced Tuesday in American Samoa, Alaska, Washington, Texas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Investing in public, private and educational organizations “will train workers on our coasts and help them find good-paying jobs that strengthen climate resilience and local economies,” reads a statement from the US Secretary of State. Commerce, Gina Raimondo. “Climate change is accelerating the need for a new generation of skilled workers who can help communities address a wide range of climate impacts, including sea level rise, flooding, water quality issues water and the need for solutions such as renewable energy. »

The program is funded by President Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act and includes $50 million in direct grants and $10 million in technical assistance to support beneficiaries. Federal officials told reporters they had received 95 applications for the program seeking total funding of $615 million, more than 10 times the amount available.

“Even with this generational investment, we think it shows the need and demand in communities across the country for programs like this,” said Jonathan Pennock, director of NOAA’s National Sea Grant College Program, which helps to manage the initiative.

The program comes at a key time for the country, which continues to experience increasingly severe climate impacts, such as extreme wildfires, floods, heat and storms. Las Vegas, Phoenix and Albuquerque are currently experiencing a heatwave amid a record heat wave, while parts of Florida are bracing for a month’s worth of rain in just a few days.

California has set ambitious goals to adapt to climate change, including cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half by 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality by 2045, but to get there, it will require a significant overhaul of its transportation and energy sectors, as well as upgrades and investments in manufacturing and infrastructure.

A 2021 study on California’s clean energy transition found that investments needed to meet and strengthen the state’s goals could create 1 million new jobs by 2030. About 14% of those jobs are tied to solar energy, 5% from onshore wind power and 4% from wastewater. , among other sectors.

Such efforts are urgently needed: In the 1980s, the United States faced a weather disaster worth an average of $1 billion every four months, according to NOAA. Today, such events occur every three weeks.

“This is a stark reminder of the growing risks we face,” said Jainey Bavishi, assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA deputy administrator. “Demand for adaptation and resilience solutions is growing, and with it comes growing demand for a climate-ready workforce trained to help communities and businesses prepare for the impacts of climate change.

Bavishi noted that since 2018, the number of city- and state-level climate adaptation plans has increased by 32 percent, “but translating them into action equitably and effectively is proving more difficult.” One obstacle is the lack of a skilled and diverse workforce, she said.

Additionally, the Fifth National Climate Change Assessment, released in November, highlighted how historically underserved communities, communities of color, and tribal and indigenous communities face disproportionate risks and impacts from climate change. These same communities also often find themselves on the margins of the labor market.

The workforce initiative intentionally reaches out to these communities with training opportunities, Raimondo told reporters Tuesday. Supportive services – such as childcare and transportation – are elements of the initiative that will help ensure “people can complete their education, graduate, and obtain high-quality, well-paying jobs.” .

“We need to be clear-eyed about the need to prepare workers with skills for jobs and connections to real jobs, and that’s what this initiative is designed to do,” she said.

Long Beach City College’s $9.5 million program represents the second-largest investment, following the Greater Boston Coastal Resilience Jobs Alliance in Massachusetts, which will receive $9.8 million for a similar project.

The LBCC will serve as the “backbone” for the creation of the Los Angeles County Climate Ready Employment Council – a broad project that will bring together stakeholders from the public, private, nonprofit, tribal and educational spheres to improve the state’s workforce. county in terms of climate resilience and develop training. and placement in all areas of the county, college officials said.

“While the impacts of climate change may be unavoidable, we still have the power to mitigate their severity by changing both our collective behavior and our infrastructure,” reads a statement from the LBCC Superintendent-President, Mike Munoz. “Our students will be at the forefront of developing and implementing innovative solutions critical to maintaining the health of our planet and ensuring a resilient future for all.”

LBCC also announced this week a $750,000 grant from the California Municipal Utilities Assn’s Water, Wastewater and Energy Workforce Development Program. The two grants “will address the unique needs of communities most disproportionately impacted by climate change and enable underserved and underfunded workers to benefit from training and placement in climate-resilient careers,” they said. school officials said.

The federal program will begin six to nine months after the funds are received, depending on the college. NOAA officials said they aim to distribute all funds to awardees by Aug. 1.

The Biden administration has already created more than 270,000 clean energy jobs across the country, but officials stressed there is still work to do.

“The impacts of the climate crisis are diverse, as are the skills needed to empower workers and communities,” Raimondo said. “If we want to ensure that American workers can take advantage of the jobs we create by fighting climate change, then we need to be proactive about training people so they have the skills they need to get the jobs that are available . .”