Green goals aim to bring green jobs to NYS
CAPITAL REGION, NY (WRGB) — The Climate Leadership and Community Plan Act has high goals of reducing gas emissions and sustaining renewable energy.
In the course of the multi-decade plan, workers are needed to get the job done
“It’s a huge opportunity not only in the perspective of scale, but also new careers; transitioning folks from their current jobs to these new jobs,” said NYSERDA President Doreen Harris. ”It’s really exciting from an opportunity perspective.
A December report [the Scoping Plan] from the Climate Action Council leading the legislative efforts shows there are over 165,000 clean energy jobs currently in New York.
Over the several decades roughly 200,000 more are expected.
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“One thing that we found in the context of the Scoping Plan, is that for every job lost, ten created. So, that’s really exciting for the future, but there’s still a job lost,” said DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos. “So, all of the training that we’re talking about, the programs NYSERDA is running, all the emphasis being put on workforce development here in New York State helps to reduce that, the pain of one job lost, so we can increase the amount of employment in New York state and make sure the state is better off as a result of this work.”
Hudson Valley Community College and other skilled trade programs are set to play a key role in these future careers according to state leaders.
HVCC’'s Welding and Fabrication program prepares students to manufacture tools and materials needed in clean energy projects.
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"They [HVCC] have a brand-new welding and expanding welding program that will ultimately service activities going on throughout the capital region, the offshore wind industry as an example,” said Harris. “Also, to support the likes of plug power here locally, really bringing forward electronics skills.”
