Just Transition in Action
Business will not return “as usual.” The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent stay-at-home orders have fundamentally shifted the way we live, work, and play in our communities. But as history has shown, every crisis provides the opportunity to envision a better world. As an urban planner committed to economic and environmental justice, I turn to community-backed practices that comprehensively seek to redress the inequities present in local economies and the built environment. The following post, while originally written in early March 2020, highlights the powerful outcomes of organized labor and emerging industries in the clean energy sector. With the oil industry plummeting, we must seize this time in history to turn the tide towards climate justice by investing in clean energy jobs for displaced workers and frontline communities.
LA-Based Electric Bus Manufacturer Backs Unionized Workforce in the Face of Climate Change
California’s ambitious clean energy goals, which include achieving 100% clean electric power by 2045, are forging necessary partnerships between emerging industries and organized labor. Proterra, an electric bus manufacturer that set up shop in LA County in 2019, recently collaborated with United Steelworkers Local 675 to unionize its workforce. In large part due to Jobs to Move America’s organizing efforts, the manufacturer also committed to train and hire Angelenos facing barriers to employment as part of a Community Benefits Agreement. This unique partnership materialized into what many climate justice and labor unions have called for: a Just Transition into a carbon-neutral future.
“Just Transition” is a framework developed by environmental and economic justice advocates that envisions an equitable shift towards the green economy. A major tenet of Just Transition is to safeguard displaced workers and communities economically dependent on the fossil-fuel industry. While some practical examples of Just Transition programs exist, they are few and far between.
Given the state’s climate target to reach carbon-neutrality by 2045, major disruptions are expected across various industries and communities in the near future. Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) reports that approximately 110,000 Californians work in coal mining or other fossil fuel extraction jobs — the vast majority of which will be non-existent in 20 years.
Although clean energy jobs outnumber fossil-fuel jobs 3-to-1 nationally, our friends at USC’s Program for Environmental and Regional Equity report that fossil fuel jobs pay significantly higher wages and are more likely to hire full-time workers than the average job across all sectors. Fossil fuel facilities are also significant economic drivers in the communities in which they are located, which are predominately working class, communities of color. Our transition to clean energy sources, thus, must adequately prepare for and center on the needs of the most vulnerable.
Leadership at Local 675, whose members work primarily in oil refineries, is working proactively to link with emerging industries that guarantee family-sustaining wages. Their Community Benefits Agreement with Proterra is a promising model that practically applies the intent of Just Transition. Will others follow their leadership?
Some agencies and local governments are beginning to plan for a Just Transition. The Los Angeles County Sustainability Plan, for instance, proposes the development of a “Just Transition” plan and task force. At the State level, the California Environmental Protection Agency has commissioned a study “to evaluate pathways to achieve a carbon neutral economy by 2045 … and assess potential impacts to disadvantaged and low-income communities.” These efforts will require direct engagement with frontline communities to ensure policies and programs moving forward are proactive, actionable, and equitable.
Community consultation is key to equitable development. With conversations of economic recovery underway, NOW is the time we come together to invest in good, dignified jobs that do not compromise the health and well-being of workers, frontline communities, and our climate.
