Green Economy

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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.

Spotlight

Announcement

September 27, 2023

Technical Assistance: DOE Community Benefit Plans
Report

April 26, 2023

Fossil fuel layoff: The economic and employment effects of a refinery closure on workers in the Bay Area
Press

May 3, 2023

The Transition to Green Energy Must Center Workers and Unions
Press

June 20, 2023

In the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, How to Minimize Harm to Displaced Workers
Blog

August 18, 2022

The Inflation Reduction Act Charts a Path that is Pro-Climate and Pro-Worker

Research & Publications

View Testimony

September 20, 2023 -

Sam Appeland Jessie HF Hammerling

California’s Climate Investments and High Road Workforce Standards: Gaps and Opportunities for Advancing Workforce Equity

This report presents a current snapshot of the state’s progress in implementing several of the strategies outlined in our 2020 report A Jobs and Climate Action Plan for 2030. Specifically, we review existing high road standard policies in California, and assess the reach of high road standards across the state’s proposed climate investments in California’s 2022-23 state budget.

April 26, 2023 -

Virginia Parksand Ian Baran

Fossil fuel layoff: The economic and employment effects of a refinery closure on workers in the Bay Area

On October 30, 2020, the Marathon oil refinery in Contra Costa County, California, was permanently shut down and 345 unionized workers laid off. The findings in this report focus on these workers’ post-layoff job search, employment status, wages, and financial security. The Marathon refinery’s closure sheds light on the employment and economic impacts of climate change policies and a shrinking fossil fuel industry on fossil fuel workers in the region and more broadly.

April 26, 2023 -

RELEASE: Fossil fuel layoff: The economic and employment effects of a refinery closure on workers in the Bay Area

A new report from the University of California Berkeley Labor Center released Wednesday documents the difficult post-layoff job search and working conditions of hundreds of California fossil fuel workers in the aftermath of the 2020 closure of the Marathon Martinez oil refinery in Contra Costa County, providing an illuminating case study of the perils and needs of workers in the nation’s changing energy landscape.

October 28, 2022 -

Carol Zabin receives Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Energy Commission

The California Energy Commission just announced that Carol Zabin has been awarded a 2022 Clean Energy Hall of Fame Award for Lifetime Achievement! This annual award honors those who have made exceptional contributions to our state’s progress toward a 100 percent clean energy future.

September 8, 2022 -

The Labor Center welcomes new co-directors of the Green Economy Program

We are thrilled to announce and welcome our new co-directors of the Labor Center’s Green Economy Program: Dr. Jessie HF Hammerling and Francisco Arzu.

Climate Action Plan and Workforce Needs Assessment

Press Coverage

September 28, 2023 -

E&E News

‘Not a fan’: UAW workers give thumbs-down to Biden’s EV plan

“The core issue is how employers are deploying these new technologies in a way that explicitly weakens the union,” she said in an email. “All of the jobs in the supply chain, from lithium extraction and battery manufacturing all the way up to automotive assembly, could be union jobs.”—Jessie HF Hammerling, UC Berkeley Labor Center

September 23, 2023 -

Politico

Transitions: Blue-Collar Green Jobs

A University of California, Berkeley, Labor Center report out Wednesday measures the state’s progress so far, finding California has put in high labor standards for large, publicly funded construction projects such as utility-scale solar and multifamily housing development.

September 21, 2023 -

Michigan Advance

UAW members testify in favor of just energy transition office legislation

Sebolt cited a study from University of California Berkeley’s Labor Center, noting that 74% of workers were able to find new employment after being laid off, workers often made a median of $12 less hourly than in their prior position.

September 13, 2023 -

Wired

Autoworkers Prepare to Strike for a Place in the EV Future

An April study from UC Berkeley titled “Fossil Fuel Layoff” found that unionized workers who lost their jobs when a California oil refinery closed mostly found new work, but it was often lower-paying with poorer working conditions. The researchers say potential solutions include cash payouts for transitioning workers and targeted training for new jobs in specific industries.

September 6, 2023 -

Fox 40

Porter says government, unions are key to protecting public from corporations

“We’ve seen the research on this, for example from the (UC Berkeley Labor Center), that when people lose their fossil fuel jobs if we’re not very intentional and don’t have a strategy they end up making less than they did before. We can’t let that happen.”

Program Contact

Francisco Arzú

Co-Director, Green Economy Program

farzu@berkeley.edu

Jessie HF Hammerling

Co-Director, Green Economy Program

jesshf@berkeley.edu

Carol Zabin

Senior Advisor on the Green Economy

zabin@berkeley.edu

(510) 642-9176

Sam Appel

Practitioner in Residence

sappel@berkeley.edu