BlogStories of Hope: Investments for a Clean Energy Economy in Appalachia

Union Energy’s Climate Jobs Plan

By March 17, 2025March 18th, 2025No Comments

Bringing together the PA ALF-CIO, the PA Building Trades, the Climate Jobs National Resource Center, and Cornell University, Union Energy is a project of collaboration that is working to create “a sustainable and innovative energy economy . . . that allows all Pennsylvania families to have an opportunity to work in union jobs with union benefits.” This project is interested in advancing nonpartisan policies to bring forth these opportunities to push us towards a sustainable energy economy. And with their recent “Pennsylvania Climate Jobs Plan,” we are provided with a fantastic example of what is possible with the trades investing in research. 

This report is the conclusion of “robust legal, quantitative, and quality research; consistent educational convenings; interviews with over 40 key stakeholders; and feedback sessions throughout the research process to develop a Climate Jobs Program for Pennsylvania” done by Cornell University’s Climate Jobs Institute for and with the help of the plethora of local labor organizations consulted. With the consultation of these organizations, Union Energy has identified 7 focus areas in which to give recommendations on moving towards the sustainable energy economy, and in these areas established a total of 28 actions:

  1. Energy
    1. Transform Pennsylvania’s Energy Economy by Building 54.5 Gigawatts of Renewable Energy by 2035 with Gold-Star Labor Standards (pg 19)
    2. Tap Into Renewable Energy Potential by Retrofitting Pennsylvania’s NonPowered Dams for Hydroelectric Energy (pg 24)
    3. Making Pennsylvania a Leader in the Installation and Manufacturing of Small Modular Nuclear Technology (pg 26)
    4. Address Methane Leakage by Establishing a LargeScale Program to Cap Pennsylvania’s Abandoned and Orphaned Oil and Gas Wells (pg 30)
    5. Expand and Modernize Pennsylvania’s Power Grid Using Union Labor (pg 34)
  2. Industry
    1. Transform the Keystone State into a Hub for Unionized Clean Energy and Climate-Aligned Manufacturing (pg 40)
    2. Catalyze  Pennsylvania to Become a Renewables  Recycling Powerhouse (pg 42)
    3. Reduce Pennsylvania’s Industrial Emissions While Maintaining Union Jobs  (pg 44)
    4. Establish Pennsylvania as a Leader in Direct Air Capture (pg 47)
  3. Buildings
    1. Adopt a CarbonFree Keystone State Act to Jumpstart a Just Transition Through Building Decarbonization in Pennsylvania (pg 51)
    2. Incentivize UnionBuilt Zero-Emission Affordable Housing (pg 55)
    3. Make Pennsylvania Homes Safer, Healthier, and More Efficient Through an Amended WholeHome Repairs Program (pg 57)
    4. Adopt a WholeSchool Repairs Act to Make Pennsylvania Schools Safe, Healthy, and Sustainable (pg 60)
  4. Transportation
    1. Construct HighSpeed Rail Infrastructure in the Northeast Corridor (pg 65)
    2. Electrify and Transformatively Expand Pennsylvania’s  Public Transit by 2035; Invest in a Retraining Program for the Electric Vehicle Transition (pg 67)
    3. Decarbonize Pennsylvania’s Last-Mile Trucking by 2030 While Expanding Worker Protections in the Larger Logistics, Distribution, and Warehousing Sector (pg 69)
  5. Agriculture
    1. Establish Pennsylvania’s First Agricultural Workers’ Rights  Act to Strengthen Worker Power and  Incentivize Emissions Reductions (pg 74)
    2. Create a Circular Biofuel Economy  to Bolster Land  Use Retention, Renewable Energy, and Domestic Production (pg 77)
  6. Infrastructure
    1.  Expand High-Speed Broadband Access by 2028 to 1.3 Million Digitally Excluded Households Using Local, Union Workers (pg 82)
    2. Build ClimateResilient, Clean, Universally Affordable Water Infrastructure Using Low-Carbon and PA-Made Materials (pg 86)
    3. Establish a Robust State OSHA Plan by 2025 to Protect Public and Private Sector Workers from Heat and Air Quality Hazards (pg 89)
    4. Expand the Commonwealth’s Public Sector Workforce to Build Climate-Resilient Infrastructure (pg 92)
  7. Just Transition
    1. Keep Workers and Communities Whole and Thriving Throughout the  Clean Energy Transition (pg 97)
    2. Build Out a Diverse Pipeline of Union Clean Energy Workers (pg 98)
    3. Scale Up Fossil Fuel Site Reclamation and Redevelopment to Create Jobs and Improve Environmental  Health (pg 101)
    4. Mandate Representation  of Labor and Workers on All Climate-Related Advisory Boards  at the State Level (pg 103)

Besides all of the impactful takeaways that Union Energy offers through the recommendations in each focus area, what we can really take note of is the collaborative process taken by the coalition with the vast networks of local labor organizations, environmental groups, academics, governmental representatives, and industry stakeholders to generate this report that beckons for worker-centered change. In order to fight the climate crisis and intersections of inequality, this extent of local coalition building is essential. 

This report is not the end of Union Energy’s work, though, as they are continuing to move forward with advocacy, collaboration, education, and research through events like their recent Faith and Labor Summit. To learn about their upcoming events, follow this link

To learn more about Union Energy’s work and to see their other reports, follow this link
To read the report discussed above, follow this link