A Role for State Attorneys General in a Just Transition

ALIGN: The Alliance for a Greater New York is a longstanding alliance of labor and community organizations united for a just and sustainable New York.

Appalachian Voices is an organization that “brings people together to protect the land, air, and water of Central and Southern Appalachia and advance a just transition to a generative and equitable clean energy economy.”

The BlueGreenAlliance, a member organization comprised of a number of larger national environmental organizations and labor unions, recently published a state policy tool kit report on “crafting state policy that rebuilds a cleaner, safer, more equitable economy.” This organization also released an “Energy Transition Policy Framework” that recommends policies for both workers and communities that will have both “immediate and long-term benefits.” In 2021, the California Teamsters and California state policy office of the BlueGreen Alliance together pushed for the passage of a statute that aims to reduce truck emissions through incentives that are also tied to compliance with workplace standards.

The Climate Jobs Institute at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations (formerly the Labor Leading on Climate Initiative at Cornell ILR’s Worker Institute) is “guiding New York and the nation’s transition to a strong, equitable, and resilient clean energy economy that tackles the climate crisis, creates high-quality jobs, confronts race and gender inequality, and builds a diverse and inclusive workforce.” The Institute “help[s] policy makers and labor, environmental and industry leaders navigate this historic transition through cutting-edge applied research, deep relationships with on-the-ground partners, and innovative training and education programs.”

Climate Jobs National Resource Center (CJNRC) is a labor-focused organization working to “combat climate change, create good union jobs, and reverse racial and economic inequality by building a worker-centered renewable economy.” CJNRC works collaboratively with the Labor Leading On Climate Initiative at the Worker Institute of the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Through this collaboration, CJNRC has helped to form state-level coalitions of labor unions in the following states: Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, New York, Rhode Island, and Texas (CT Roundtable on Climate & Jobs, Climate Jobs Illinois, Maine Labor Climate Council, Climate Jobs NY, Climate Jobs Rhode Island, Texas Climate Jobs Project). Most have produced reports outlining state- and city-specific policy recommendations for building a just transition. These reports can lead to unions signing onto recommendations for reducing emissions in the state.

The Climate Justice Alliance is a member alliance of 84 urban and rural frontline communities, organizations, and supporting networks in the climate justice movement. The Alliance focuses on uniting frontline communities and organizations in order to push “a just transition away from extractive systems of production, consumption and political oppression, and towards resilient, regenerative and equitable economies.”

Front and Centered is a coalition of community groups in Washington State that are led by people of color and that have committed themselves to working towards a just transition. During the 2022 legislative session, this coalition advocated for bills that included 5 billion dollars for public transportation and other transportation solutions such as more bike paths.

The Green Workers Alliance focuses on bringing together “current and future workers” in the clean energy industries, with a specific focus on organized labor at utility-scale solar and wind projects.

Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition brings together“environmental advocacy organizations, businesses, community leaders, consumer advocates, environmental justice groups, and faith-based and student organizations” to work on policies affecting public health, the environment, consumer rights, and workers in Illinois.

Just Transition Alliance unites frontline workers (specifically workers in the service, energy, farmworker, and chemical industries), and fenceline communities (people of color, Indigenous Peoples and low-income communities) to shift towards a more sustainable economy. The Alliance pushes for “strategies that embody the priorities of workers and communities hit hardest by climate change.”

The Just Transition Centre, established by the International Trade Union Confederation, is an international organization that facilitates conversations, trainings, and initiatives to “ensure that [labor] has a seat at the table when planning for a Just Transition to a low-carbon world.”

Just Transition Fund provides investments and assistance to communities most impacted by the transition away from coal with the goal of advancing “economic solutions that are equitable, inclusive, and low carbon.”

The Labor Energy Partnership (LEP), a collaboration of the AFL-CIO and Energy Futures Initiative, seeks to integrate the labor and climate fields and produce “timely research that provides actionable recommendations for clean energy policy.”

Labor Network for Sustainability works with unions and labor groups to address the climate crisis and builds partnerships between labor interests and the climate movement.

Resilience Force is a national organization that advocates for solutions and better policies for people who work on responding to disasters.

NY Renews is a coalition of over 300 environmental, justice, faith, labor, and community groups focused on implementing the New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. The organization explains: “We fight for good jobs and climate justice, and we’re not finished yet.”

The UC Berkeley Labor Center has a green economy program that researches “job creation, quality, access, and training in the emergent green economy” and assists “state agencies, labor, and other stakeholders” that are developing climate policy that intersects with labor interests.

WE ACT for Environmental Justice is an environmental justice oriented community-based organization in West Harlem. Together with the Environmental Leadership Forum (a national coalition of 54 environmental justice organizations), they issued a Green Jobs Report offering policy solutions for “closing the diversity gap within the Green Jobs and renewable energy sectors.”

The Worker Institute at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations “engages in research and education on contemporary labor issues, to generate innovative thinking and solutions to problems related to work, economy and society.” The group “brings together researchers, educators and students with practitioners in labor, business and policymaking to confront growing economic and social inequalities, in the interests of working people and their families.” As noted above, Cornell ILR also has a Climate Jobs Institute.

Read the report: Communities Left Behind — How Local Ordinances Can Obstruct Energy Democracy and a Just Transition.

Thanks to a combination of market forces and targeted policies, a clean energy transition is sweeping across the United States, bringing communities important benefits such as economic opportunity, cheaper electricity, and a cleaner environment. But not all communities will be able to share in these benefits because they have adopted different forms of restrictions on the development of new renewable energy sources, including wind, solar, and battery storage. This report and its corresponding interactive map use an innovative spatial approach to examine those communities that are at greatest risk of being left behind.

Read the report: Localities Take Action to Protect Workers: A Report for Labor Day 2023.

To mark a year’s worth of transformative local labor policies from Labor Day 2022 to Labor Day 2023, the Economic Policy Institute, the Center for Labor & A Just Economy, and the Local Progress Impact Lab released a Localities Take Action to Protect Workers, a Labor Day 2023 Workers’ Rights Report. This Labor Day Report catalogs many key developments and categorizes them based on the policy lever the local government used. The report does not contain all relevant activities at the local level, but it provides a sense of the breadth and substance of pro-worker action by local government entities during the past year. We want to note that abusive state preemption often limits what localities can do to advance workers’ rights (i.e. the Texas “Death Star” Bill HB2127), but we hope this report provides inspiration by showcasing both what localities can do when they aren’t preempted and also the creative things they can do even when they are preempted.

Read the report: Fossil fuel layoff: The economic and employment effects of a refinery closure on workers in the Bay Area. You can also watch the webinar: Fossil Fuel Layoff.

Join the UC Berkeley Labor Center on Wednesday, June 14 from 12:00-1:00pm (PT) for a conversation about their Fossil Fuel Layoff report, which documents the difficult post-layoff situation of California fossil fuel workers in the aftermath of the 2020 closure of the Marathon Martinez oil refinery in Contra Costa County. It provides a first-of-its-kind case study of the perils and needs of workers in the state’s changing energy landscape. The webinar will discuss the lessons from the report on how to support workers and communities as we transition away from fossil fuels into a greener economy.

Watch the webinar: “Building A Clean Energy Economy: The Inflation Reduction Act and Workforce Development”

On January 11, 2023, Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations hosted a virtual discussion that drew on the expertise of labor leaders, policymakers, and workforce development professionals to examine opportunities presented by the IRA and offer guidance on how to use these investments to build a diverse and equitable clean energy economy.

Read the report: Building Back Better or building back worse? The challenge of building a high-road EV industry with anti-union employers.

This report from Dr. Gordon Lafer, a professor at University of Oregon’s Labor Education & Research Center, outlines legal and illegal means that have been used to stop auto workers from exercising their right to collective bargaining, and looks at steps that can taken to protect that right and ensure that highly profitable sector provides family-wage jobs.