A more equitable, climate-ready workforce may be cultivated through green job training. This week, we spoke to Julia Hatton, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rising Sun Center for Opportunity, about how training people from underserved communities for careers in the building trades can create economic opportunity while advancing energy efficiency and climate solutions. For a transcript of this episode, please visit https://climatebreak.org/building-a-climate-workforce-with-julia-hatton/
As California works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, the transition to energy-efficient homes is an important opportunity for climate careers. The Rising Sun Center for Opportunity, a California-based nonprofit managed by Julia Hatton, helps address challenges faced by those in underserved communities when it comes to job training. Through hands-on programs, participants can gain valuable skills as they work to improve green buildings.
Buildings account for over 40% of the global energy consumption and carbon emissions, making improvements to the energy and water efficiency of local homes an important part of climate strategy. As a result, the transition to clean energy creates a high demand for workers trained in energy efficiency and green construction—and there is a global shortage of workers with the applicable skills.
The Rising Sun Center for Opportunity assists not only with the immediate need, but also in building career pathways focused on long-term climate resilience. By employing young people from low-income backgrounds in the Bay and Central California, this nonprofit works as a launchpad for future climate action.
Climate job training addresses both economic and environmental challenges simultaneously. Participants gain practical skills to help them enter the green industry, while households can receive services that save energy and water.
The hands-on approach that the Rising Sun Center for Opportunity utilizes furthers this endeavor, especially with the focus it has on leveling the playing field. With programs specializing in preparing youth, women, and individuals in reentry, a diverse range of participants can work directly in homes and communities. This provides immediate climate benefits to recipients of service, while workers gain experience in real-world projects that equip them with skills necessary for a long-term career.
Some contend that climate job training doesn’t always translate into long-term climate employment. Although the Rising Sun Center for Opportunity may provide an efficient starting point, participants are not guaranteed a green career, especially if employers require other additional experiences or skills.
There is also a need to ensure that the climate transition doesn’t just create jobs; it should also help establish economic power for those who have been marginalized from careers, as Hatton emphasizes. Although the Rising Sun Center for Opportunity aims to coordinate efforts from a wide group of historically disadvantaged communities, it’s crucial that efforts translate into real impact.
Ms. Julia Hatton believes that investment in workers in green jobs is crucial to advance response to climate change. Rather than identifying job creation and reducing emissions as separate goals, Hatton sees potential in merging and combating both actions at once: by allowing them to reinforce each other.
Ms. Julia Hatton is the President & Chief Executive Officer at Rising Sun Center for Opportunity, committed to climate job training for underserved communities to lead climate action. She takes charge in leading innovation in the workforce and climate sector alike.
Ethan: I’m Ethan Elkind, and you’re listening to Climate Break– climate solutions in a hurry. Today’s proposal? Training people from underserved communities to make homes more energy efficient and start careers in green building trades. Here’s Julia Hatton, President and Chief Executive Officer of the California-based non-profit Rising Sun Center for Opportunity.
Ms. Hatton: The building trades are building the climate infrastructure that California needs, right? And we have a tremendous opportunity to provide good green jobs to people who've been locked out of these career pathways.
Ethan: To open these doors, Rising Sun Center for Opportunity runs climate job training programs, funded by electricity ratepayers, that focus on high-demand skills like sealing homes and installing smart thermostats and heat pumps. Hatton explains how their hands-on approach delivers climate benefits from the get-go.
Ms. Hatton: Our Climate Careers program employs youth from low-income households in the Bay Area and the Central Valley to provide free energy efficiency and water conservation services to local households. This program directly helps people save energy and water in their homes, which in turn reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
Ethan: Looking ahead, Hatton believes that investing in workers is the key to advancing climate progress.
Ms. Hatton: When we can look at these two things together and ensure that green jobs offer family-sustaining wages, you see individuals build economic power, the local economy grows, and climate work gets done at the scale and quality that we actually need to save our planet.
Ethan: To learn more about Rising Sun Center for Opportunity and climate job training, visit climatebreak.org.