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.

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.

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.

After decades of inaction and failed attempts, the U.S. has finally passed federal legislation addressing climate change. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is groundbreaking not only in its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also in how it demonstrates that we don’t have to choose between good jobs and action on the climate. By including strong labor standards in incentives for clean energy and energy efficiency work, the IRA will help build a high-road green economy, creating good jobs and clear pathways into them.

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.

California’s ambitious path towards a carbon-neutral economy is complex, involves and affects different industries and occupations in multiple ways, and holds both promise and challenges for the state’s working families. The analysis and recommendations here present actions that show a high road to climate policy is both valuable and feasible.

With the pandemic-induced economic downturn and uncertainty hurting Californians across the state – and with the fires a reminder of the urgent need for climate action – the California Workforce Development Board (CWDB) today submitted a new report to the Legislature highlighting a path forward for an economic recovery that advances the Administration’s high road principles of economic equity, climate resilience, and job quality.

Our study addresses two separate but complementary questions for California in the years and decades ahead: 1) what benefits would the emergence of a major offshore wind power sector create for California workers and communities, and what policies might optimize these impacts; and 2) would offshore wind power be a competitive source of renewable energy in comparison to other clean energy sources?

This report analyzes a major barrier to successful implementation of new clean truck standards: the common trucking industry practice of classifying (and often misclassifying) truck drivers as independent contractors rather than employees.

New UC Berkeley Report: Stop Truck Driver Misclassification to Meet California’s Climate Goals. Misclassified drivers can’t afford clean trucks; Current Legislation—AB 5 would help make California’s transition to low- and zero-emissions trucks a reality.

2019 Update: This update to the February 2017 jobs report estimates job creation based on K-12 clean energy projects that have been approved by the California Energy Commission (CEC) from the start of the program through the final approved energy expenditures at the end of June 2018.

Third in the Guest Blogger Series: Voices of Labor and Allies from Labor in the Climate Transition Conference. “Freight and delivery companies are finding ways to pass on the responsibility of cleaning up fleets to individual drivers, while minimizing their own investments. This is what corporations do when we don’t have policies that protect workers or incentivize companies to do the right thing.”

Guest Blogger Series: Voices of Labor and Allies from Labor in the Climate Transition Conference. “Workers and communities can become central players, not roadkill, in the clean energy transition.”

Guest Blogger Series: Voices of Labor and Allies from Labor in the Climate Transition Conference. “What’s better than clean, efficient transportation options in your neighborhood? Clean and efficient transportation options in your neighborhood that provide income and opportunities for your neighbors.”

On Sept. 12, 2018, 250 labor leaders and others met in Berkeley at a conference hosted by the Labor Center to discuss best practices in worker-friendly climate policy. The meeting was the culmination of years of organizing and research by labor to identify best practices, make alliances, and change the green economy.

Labor leaders, legislators, climate justice organizations, and policy experts will meet Sept. 12 at a conference in Berkeley hosted by the UC Berkeley Labor Center to showcase best practices for worker-friendly climate policy for 2019 and beyond. Labor in the Climate Transition: Charting the Roadmap for 2019 and Beyond is an official affiliate event of the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit.

This report analyzes the policy actions needed for offshore wind power to become an important component of California’s energy mix and an economic catalyst. These steps would entail an unusual degree of long-term coordination and commitment by government and industry. Yet such an effort appears to merit serious consideration.