NEW YORK, NY, Aug. 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, the Climate Jobs National Resource Center (CJNRC) unveiled a new report that finds 6,285 clean energy projects in the development pipeline nationwide that could be eligible for tax incentives tied to labor standards under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). These projects represent a potential 3.9 million high-quality jobs, $2 trillion in investment, and over 1,000 gigawatts of clean power. The analysis includes large- or utility-scale clean energy projects either planned, under construction, or recently completed across the country. All of these projects would be required to meet labor standards–prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements–to maximize their federal tax incentives under the IRA, paving the way to boost pay and job quality for clean energy workers across the U.S.
The report includes national and state-level data and includes case studies of union-built clean energy projects and testimonials from workers to illustrate the critical role that unions play in maximizing the IRA’s potential to create good union jobs and training pathways, slash carbon emissions, and advance equity. While not every proposed clean energy project in the development pipeline gets built, these findings demonstrate the massive scale and potential of clean energy investment unlocked by the IRA and underscore how unions and state-based climate jobs coalitions are organizing to ensure this boom pays off for workers and communities.
“Today's report highlights the transformative impact of federal clean energy investments on our nation's clean energy sector. With an unprecedented number of new projects and jobs on the horizon, we’re seizing the opportunity to combat climate change and create good-paying, union jobs in the process.” said Mike Fishman, president and executive director of Climate Jobs National Resource Center. “This is a crucial step forward in addressing the dual crises of climate change and inequality, and illustrates what is possible when labor leads the way.”
The report outlines:
- Twelve of the IRA’s most powerful tax incentives are tied to labor standards aimed at making the clean energy sector a source of good jobs and equitable economic opportunity. The tax credits with labor standards are structured to offer projects over one megawatt an enhanced tax credit worth up to five times the base credit if the project meets certain labor standards, including paying workers a prevailing wage and hiring registered apprentices–a crucial investment in building out a domestic clean energy workforce for generations to come. All of the projects in the report could be eligible for tax incentives tied to labor standards.
- Labor standards include prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements, which together seek to lift the pay and quality of jobs throughout the clean energy economy while training a skilled workforce to build new energy infrastructure efficiently, safely, and at scale.
- Effective implementation and enforcement of the IRA’s labor standards will be key to ensuring the jobs created through federal clean energy investments do not replicate or exacerbate existing trends in the clean energy sector of low wages, low-road working conditions, lack of adequate training, and scant health and safety protections.
“This report emphasizes the critical role that labor unions are playing in building our nation’s clean energy economy,” said Vincent Alvarez, president of the New York City Central Labor Council and member of the Climate Jobs National Resource Center Board of Directors, “Unions across the country are organizing to make sure our federal clean energy investments create good-paying, high-quality jobs and pathways to lifelong careers. As we continue to harness the power of the Inflation Reduction Act, we must ensure its labor standards are met so that working families see the real benefits of our efforts to tackle the climate crisis.”
“Over the past four decades, workers’ wages have lagged and economic inequality has deepened, all while the climate crisis hits working-class neighborhoods and communities of color first and worst,” said Rick Levy, president of the Texas AFL-CIO and member of the Climate Jobs National Resource Center Board of Directors, “Union membership is the single most reliable way to improve job quality and tackle inequality. This report shows how the Inflation Reduction Act and its labor standards can help us create millions of good jobs, advance equity, and build a clean energy economy that works for all of us.”
"The clean energy boom unleashed by the Inflation Reduction Act presents a seismic opportunity for the U.S. to create high-quality union jobs, advance racial and economic equity, combat the climate crisis, and slash emissions nationwide,” said Lara Skinner, Executive Director of the Climate Jobs Institute at Cornell University and member of the Climate Jobs National Resource Center Board of Directors. “This report lays it out – there are thousands of clean energy projects in the development pipeline that could be eligible for the IRA’s tax credits with labor standards, representing a huge opportunity to protect our planet and support working families. Unions will be at the heart of this shift – helping projects meet the IRA’s labor standard requirements, getting projects done efficiently, and bringing lasting union career opportunities to diverse communities.”
The report includes testimonials from union members working on clean energy projects across the country:
"I've been a union sheet metal worker for 35 years. The pay and benefits are better, and I really enjoy getting to teach and pass on what I have learned in my career to the younger journeymen and apprentices on the jobsite,” said Jeff Green, a sheet metal worker in the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) Local 18. “We all go through the apprenticeship program, so it's nice to know there is a certain standard you can expect when you get new workers on site." SMART is working on Maplewood Middle School, a new net-zero school in Menasha, Wisconsin.
“It seemed like all the good jobs were hours away. You kind of had to choose between raising your kids or making enough money to support them. You just couldn’t do both,” said Caleb Littlefield, a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 4 working on Walden Leeds Solar in Leeds, Maine. “But the Inflation Reduction Act is changing that. Those investments are creating good union jobs that make people’s lives better. The Inflation Reduction Act means good jobs for years to come. That means my daughter gets a good life and a dad who’s home for dinner. And that’s what it’s all about.”
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About Climate Jobs National Resource Center
The Climate Jobs National Resource Center (CJNRC) and CJNRC’s Action Fund are labor-led organizations that work to combat climate change, create good union jobs, and reverse racial and economic inequality by building a worker-centered clean energy economy. Learn more by visiting www.cjnrc.org and follow CJNRC on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
