LABOR & CLIMATE NEWS
Commentary: The Green New Deal in the States – Part 1
Just since the start of 2021 there has been a wave of state legislation and executive action that sets and implements new standards for greenhouse gas emissions. States have greatly expanded their plans for wind and solar energy and energy efficiency. In most cases these are combined with policies specifically designed to create good quality jobs and to counter inequality. This Commentary describes job-creating, justice-promoting climate protection in Hawaii and Illinois. The following Commentary will describe such initiatives in California and evaluate the origins and effects of state-level Green New Deal-style initiatives overall.
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Transit Equity Day
LNS is enlarging the scope of “climate workers,’ such as railroaders and transit workers, to lift-up the importance of investing in the transit workforce to create good jobs for operators and maintenance workers as we transition to clean energy transit systems.
Young Worker Organizing
LNS is empowering a rising generation of young workers to lead the labor-climate movement into the future. This fall, LNS convened an inaugural Young Workers Convergence that brought together nearly 100 young workers from 23 states (as well as DC and Canada) and more than 50 different worker and environmental organizations to participate in workshops…
Reorienting the Green New Deal
In 2022, LNS advised the Green New Deal Network (GNDN) on how to strengthen the pro-labor, climate justice provisions in federal policy proposals. Although Build Back Better (BBB) and the Protect the Right to Organize Act could not get past the Big Coal/Big Oil members in Congress, the coalition and Biden Administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which provides unprecedented federal funding for new investments in green energy infrastructure.
California Case Studies
LNS is working strategically in key states that are leading the national narrative on climate justice. This year, LNS and Jobs with Justice San Francisco launched California Labor for Climate Jobs, a coalition of labor unions calling for an equitable, worker- and union-led transition to a resilient economy with good jobs based on clean energy and expanded public and social services.
