President Biden finished his whirlwind first week in office with an executive order to tackle climate change. A core part of this strategy relies on training new and incumbent workers, especially those in existing high-carbon jobs like fossil fuels, for new “green” occupations. John Kerry, Biden’s White House lead on climate change, was explicit: Many of those currently working in the energy sector could and should be retrained to install solar panels. Leaving aside the merits of policies designed to slow the accumulation of greenhouse gases and rising global temperatures, the new administration’s emphasis on green jobs as a major contributor to employment and an economically viable alternative for workers in the legacy energy industry is likely a mistake.
The Obama Administration made a similar push for green jobs and a greener economy. In fact, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) put millions of grant dollars in the hands of community colleges and other training programs to prepare workers for wind, solar, and other green jobs. There were high-profile green failures like the $528 million federal taxpayer loss on Solyndra, but evidence also demonstrates that wind and solar training programs fell woefully short of providing high-paying and sustainable employment that might be seen as reasonable replacements for other energy-intensive industries and occupations.
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