Inclusive Workforce Development for an Equitable Low-Carbon Transition

The shift to a low-carbon economy will require a massive build out of low-carbon technologies, which in turn will require millions of new laborers with specific skills. Similarly, the decline of fossil-fuel industries will require retraining and new job opportunities for laborers in these fields. At the same time, there is an emerging scholarly focus on a “just transition” to a low-carbon economy. This essay conceptualizes inclusive workforce development as a key component of a just transition.

Inclusive workforce development promotes policies that reach and effectively serve the broadest possible range of people and communities. In particular, inclusive workforce development policies reach and effectively serve marginalized and disadvantaged communities that are often “left behind.” Using New Mexico as a case study, this essay identifies research questions for further work in this nascent sub-field, including: 1) developing new conceptual frameworks of workforce development that move beyond traditional tools of retraining workers or preparing workers for careers in expanding industries in green energy; 2) research to evaluate the effectiveness of recent federal and state workforce policy innovations; 3) research to understand why worker participation, especially among difficult-to-reach workers, is low in current workforce programming and governance; and 4) assessing the facilitators and barriers of current workforce development systems in attracting additional industries, including the green sector, to more fully participate in their efforts.