The Biden administration, through measures such as the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, points to billions of dollars in support targeting communities disfavored in the energy transition.
The push for change got a boost at the UN-led COP28 summit in Dubai on Wednesday, where governments approved an agreement that favors "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner."
The Biden program includes grants for projects in places that have lost coal mining jobs, plus billions of dollars to enable manufacturing conversion investments for electric vehicles, including from internal combustion engine (ICE) auto plants or even oil refineries.
The goal is to ensure "a strong and just transition to electric vehicles" and the retention of "high-quality jobs in communities that currently host manufacturing facilities," according to the Department of Energy statements.
Such programs sound promising, but not everyone is convinced they will work. Funding under the programs go to businesses with growth plans -- not workers whose factories close.
Gordon Hanson, a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of government, predicted the Biden policies were more likely to succeed in boosting greener output than in supporting workers from industries that lose out.
He notes that much new electric vehicle (EV) investment has gone to southern states like Georgia and Tennessee where companies have hired younger workers -- not the traditional auto manufacturing base of the industrial Midwest.
Of particular concern is a potential mass-layoff event such as the shuttering of an ICE assembly plant or an oil refinery.
The United States could lose at least two to three million jobs over the next 15 years between the energy transition and the knock-on effects on communities, Hanson estimates.
"We have to plan for it to be disruptive," he said. "If we don't, it's going to look a lot like what happened to manufacturing due to globalization and technological innovation over the last three decades, and that's not been pretty."
- Growing demand -
On November 27, the Department of Energy announced $275 million in funding for seven projects targeting regions that experienced coal mine or coal-fired power plant closures.
The funds will go towards the manufacturing of wind turbines, key metals for power grid storage and the production of parts used in EV batteries.
One of the recipients, Alpen High Performance Products, will use $5.8 million from Washington to buy state-of-the-art equipment to boost output of flat glass for high insulation.
The equipment will be used in a Colorado plant located near a recently closed coal-powered power station and in another plant near Pittsburgh in a region that has lost coal-mining jobs, said Alpen Chief Executive Brad Begin.
"Demand is exploding right now," said Begin, who expects to add another 100 workers in light of new building codes that favor high-performance glass.
As part of the grant application, Alpen said it would contact a coal workers union in Pennsylvania about job openings.
"We'll be proactive about that," said Begin, adding that a boost for former coal industry workers is "sort of indirect" under the program.
- Transitioning from 'dirty' jobs -
While there has been some increase in workers transitioning from disfavored sectors into green jobs, fewer than one percent of workers who leave a "dirty job" have landed in a "green job," according to a July 2023 paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
E. Mark Curtis, an economist at Wake Forest University who co-authored the paper, welcomed targeting coal-affected regions, but said his study underscored the challenges, especially for older workers and those without a college degree
One reason for optimism "is that 30 percent of workers leaving a fossil fuel industry go to manufacturing," Curtis said in an email.
"To the extent that the IRA generates manufacturing jobs in fossil fuel communities, this will be good for those communities."
Harvard's Hanson said the government should develop a separate policy for vulnerable workers that doesn't seek to boost green energy at the same time.
He additionally recommends boosting spending for community colleges in hard-hit regions, extra unemployment benefits for communities that lose jobs and encouraging small business loans to such areas.
Pledges made at the COP28 climate talks
Paris (AFP) Dec 13, 2023 -
COP28, hosted by the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, mobilised a flurry of voluntary pledges in the lead-up to its landmark final deal calling for a "transition away" from fossil fuels.
The two weeks of negotiations saw over $85 billion dollars and 11 pledges and declarations committed to climate action, the COP28 presidency said Tuesday.
Here are some of the biggest developments.
- Loss and damage -
COP28 saw the launch of the "loss and damage" fund to help vulnerable countries cope with the increasingly costly and damaging impacts of climate disasters.
The fund reached around $792 million dollars in pledges during the talks, according to the COP28 presidency.
That still falls short of the $100 billion a year that developing nations have said is needed to cover losses from natural disasters and rising seas.
Meanwhile, the Green Climate Fund, focused on supporting developing countries in their climate action, saw a boost of $3.5 billion to its second replenishment, with a $3 billion promise from the United States.
- Tripling renewables -
One hundred and thirty-two countries committed to tripling renewable energy capacity worldwide by 2030 and doubling the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements.
The pledge was included in the final outcome of the talks in a substantial win for its supporters.
- Fossil fuels -
The Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA) picked up more than 10 new members during the talks -- including the US and the UAE. Over 80 percent of OECD and EU countries are now committed to the alliance.
Colombia became one of the largest fossil fuel producers to join the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, a movement led by climate-vulnerable island nations to end new development of coal, oil and gas.
More than 100 cities and subnational governments also came together to call for the treaty, but they were ultimately dismayed.
"Having the words 'fossil fuels' in the text is an important political signal, but it's a far cry from the 'historic' outcome we were all calling for," said the initiative's Executive Director Alex Rafalowicz, in a statement Tuesday.
- Tripling nuclear -
More than 20 countries led by the US called for the tripling of the world's nuclear energy capacity by 2050. While nuclear generates almost no greenhouse gases, the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011 dealt it a severe blow.
But experts and activists point to the fact that new nuclear plants can take decades to come online, while building renewable energy is significantly faster.
- Food and farming -
Nearly 160 countries agreed to prioritise food and agriculture systems in their national climate plans.
The non-binding declaration was welcomed by observers, with food systems estimated to be responsible for roughly a third of human-made greenhouse gases.
But some criticised it for lacking concrete goals -- and for not mentioning fossil fuels or signalling any shift to more sustainable diets.
- Healthy future? -
Over 140 countries signed a declaration to "place health at the heart of climate action". It called for governments to step up action on climate-related health impacts like extreme heat, air pollution and infectious diseases.
Almost nine million people a year die from polluted air, while 189 million are exposed to extreme weather-related events.
- Cooling pledge -
More than 60 nations committed to reducing emissions of energy-guzzling cooling equipment -- such as air conditioners and refrigerators -- by at least 68 percent globally by 2050.
The voluntary pledge also aims to provide more sustainable cooling measures for an additional 3.5 billion people struggling with rising temperatures.
- UAE climate investment fund -
The UAE said it was putting $30 billion into a new private climate investment fund.
The fund, called Alterra, would partly try to focus on climate projects in the developing world, and hoped to stimulate investments totalling $250 billion by 2030.
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
