A report designed to help California state transition to a carbon-neutral economy was submitted to the legislature last week but business advocates say efforts should be focused on recovering from COVID-19.
“We appreciate that they are taking a look at the way that we can open the pathways to Californians desperately seeking employment in the green and clean energy sectors, however, the highest priority among this board and our policymakers right now should be trying to help open the door for any and all job opportunities, make it as easy as possible to find a job and for employers to hire people,” said National Federation of Independent Business California state director John Kabateck.
The California Workforce Development Board (CWDB) was required by Assembly Bill 398 to develop the report, "Putting California on the High Road: A Jobs & Climate Action Plan for 2030," outlining climate policies and programs while supporting working families and high road employers.
A high road employer is defined by the American Sustainable Business Council as providing family-friendly benefits, offering flexibility, a livable and fair wage while investing in employee growth and development.
Kabateck, however, is critical of the laser focus on green jobs.
“Let’s open the door to creating employment opportunities for every sector,” Kabateck told the Southern California Record. “Green jobs are fine and dandy but there's a wide spectrum of other jobs across a wide color of industries that have job opportunities.”
The aim of the report is to support Newsom’s "California For All" policy agenda to invest in health care, housing, homelessness and early childhood education.
“The larger concern in this very terrible pandemic is the tunnel vision our policymakers have with just green because it scores political points and catches headlines,” Kabateck said in an interview. “Erecting walls of guidelines and rules and limiting it to just the green sector is myopic. We have Main Streets across the state that are dissolving, and our highest priority among policymakers should be do no harm with onerous, costly and burdensome policies.”
Recommendations in the report include:
Support inclusion programs for professional clean economy jobs.
“Just as California’s climate policies have led the nation in creating demand for zero-emission vehicles and renewable electricity, the state can send strong policy signals to ensure quality job creation in our transition to a carbon-neutral economy,” said Dr. Carol Zabin, lead author of the report in a statement online.
Support curriculum upgrades and teacher training for emerging technologies in occupations critical to the low-carbon transition.
“Climate policy is economic policy: we will always need to produce electricity, move people and goods, and invest in resilient infrastructure across the state,” said Kate Gordon, senior policy advisor to the governor on climate and director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), in a news release
Redirect and align funding for a statewide strategy for pipeline programs to expand inclusion of disadvantaged workers into family-supporting career-track jobs in the low-carbon economy.
“Public agencies are in a unique position to harness the power of public investment to ensure that climate policy supports good-paying jobs,” said Zabin, director of the Green Economy Program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center.