The Labor Center Green Economy Program conducts research on issues of job creation, quality, access, and training in the emergent green economy. In addition, we provide research and technical assistance to state agencies, labor, and other stakeholders who are engaged in developing and implementing policy related to energy and climate change in California and nationally.
February 14, 2022
Job Opening: Director of Green Economy Program
April 13, 2021
High-Road Jobs and Climate Action: Lessons from California for the Nation
September 3, 2020
Putting California on the High Road: A Jobs and Climate Action Plan for 2030
November 12, 2020
Prevailing wage in solar can deliver good jobs while keeping growth on track
September 3, 2020
Clean energy jobs are coming. Here’s how to make sure they’re good jobs
The UC Berkeley Labor Center is seeking a new Director of the Green Economy Program to lead research, education, and policy projects in the intersection of climate, jobs and equity.
Final Report for UC Berkeley Contract with the Contractor State License Board for contract CSLB-20-01, entitled “Energy Storage Systems Consultant Services”
A series of briefs summarizing the recommendations for some of the critical climate sectors addressed in the Jobs and Climate Action Plan for 2030: electricity generation, energy efficiency, electric vehicle manufacturing and charging infrastructure, public transit and infill development, trucking, and waste.
Experience has shown that prevailing wage actually accelerates solar development. In California, the predominate use of union labor on utility-scale solar projects has fortified political support from organized labor for legislation and regulatory policy that continues to accelerate in-state solar development.
Jobs v. environment is a false choice. And with the pandemic-induced economic downturn and the fires hurting Californians around the state, it’s clearer than ever that we must make meaningful progress on both fronts simultaneously, crafting an economic recovery that advances equity, climate resilience, and job quality.
hese are people who ordinarily wouldn’t be considered for, or themselves consider, a job at LADWP. A 2016 report from the University of California, Berkeley, found that more than two-thirds of people accepted into UPCT are from zip codes with very high unemployment rates, and where more than half of the population lives below the poverty level.
“Certification can really support good wages, and it does identify skills that help employers know what they’re hiring,” says Zabin.
Without a statewide plan, funding and timeline to support oil workers, Carol Zabin said, a just transition “sounds like an invitation to a fancy funeral.”
“Fossil fuel workers are unionized,” Carol Zabin, director of the UC Berkeley Labor Center’s Green Economy program, told Recode. “Most clean energy workers are not.”
“It’s really important as we move to a carbon neutral economy that we don’t let all the cost fall on one small group of workers who’ve really built up our energy system over the years and powered our economy,” said Carol Zabin.
Carol Zabin
Director, Green Economy Program
