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A new report from the Cornell University Worker Institute titled “Building a Just Transition for a Resilient Future: A Climate Jobs Program for Rhode Island” lays out “Rhode Island’s route to an equitable, worker-centered, green economy.”
The report examines the climate crisis in Rhode Island and outlines a set of high-impact climate jobs recommendations:
- Create thousands of good-paying, high-quality jobs that help reverse inequality
- Drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and meet the state’s Act on Climate targets, and
- Invest in infrastructure that will make Rhode Island communities healthier, more resilient and more equitable.
According to a commentary in the Boston Globe by George Nee, President of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and Sheila Dormody, RI Director of Climate and Cities Programs for The Nature Conservancy, core provisions of the plan include “decarbonizing the state’s K-12 public school buildings, installing 900 MW of solar energy and 1,300 MW of offshore wind energy, and modernizing the state’s electrical grid by 2030.” The report also recommends “slashing emissions from households and municipal buildings, expanding public transportation, and facilitating a just transition for workers and communities that rely on the fossil fuel sector.”
Nee and Dormody add, “With a state budget surplus of $618 million and more than $2.5 billion in federal infrastructure money in our public coffers, Rhode Island is in a strong position to tackle the climate crisis, rebuild our infrastructure, and invest in an equitable economy that works for all.”
For full commentary: Rhode Island’s route to an equitable, worker-centered, green economy – The Boston Globe
Read the full Rhode Island climate jobs report here.