About the National Energy Workforce Alliance
The Challenge: In a few short years, it will take unprecedented clean energy job growth to meet demand for new solar, wind, battery storage, and energy efficiency solutions. This is a tremendous opportunity, but it will not happen by chance. We need comprehensive planning and coordination to encourage the growth of a highly skilled and diverse clean energy workforce. We need to build connections among job seekers, education providers, employers, and community organizations and create pathways to high-quality, family-sustaining jobs.
Our Response: The National Clean Energy Workforce Alliance is a cross-sector effort to improve clean energy education, training, and job placement outcomes—and ensure that clean energy job opportunities are inclusive of diverse candidates and underserved communities.
Since January 2022, the Alliance has held regular convenings with more than 4,000 individuals across 1,800+ organizations, uniting employers, training providers, community-based recruitment and support organizations, and energy justice organizations. This collaboration serves to increase diversity within the clean energy sector, providing actionable best practices to help stakeholders to integrate equity into all aspects of their operations and engagement.
Through structured and intentional meetings, the Alliance is collectively identifying and sharing resources and information, with a focus on concrete solutions to shared workforce challenges.
The Alliance is led by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council with support from Bank of America Charitable Foundation.
Who Can Join the National Clean Energy Workforce Alliance?
Come to the table! We welcome organizations across the workforce development space in the clean energy and energy efficiency industries. Members of the Workforce Alliance include:
- Training, Education, and Credentialing Providers: Community and four-year colleges and universities, technical and vocational schools, organized labor, certifying bodies, and other for-profit and nonprofit education providers.
- Employers and Associations: Employers and trade associations representing all elements of the clean energy supply chain.
- Recruitment and Support Providers: Organizations recruiting and supporting learners and workers. This includes energy justice organizations, the U.S. Department of Labor’s workforce system, community action programs, training programs that provide wraparound services (i.e. Job Corps), and other community-based organizations.
- Funders and Program Designers: Government (policymakers, regulators, and program designers), foundations, utilities, and other entities funding workforce development efforts.
- Tribal Organizations and Governments: Tribal governments, Tribal colleges and universities, Tribal workforce development programs, and other Tribal organizations supporting clean energy workforce development, economic opportunity, and community-led energy initiatives.
What Outcomes Does the Workforce Alliance Support?
The National Clean Energy Workforce Alliance is identifying clean energy workforce development gaps along with recommended solutions that can be addressed through policy and program deployment. Our goals are to make it easier for:
- employers to find the employees they need;
- training providers to support effective learning and career guidance; and
- community organizations to connect learners and workers to clean energy jobs
How Will the Workforce Alliance Accomplish Its Goals?
The National Clean Energy Workforce Alliance offers multiple opportunities to convene, learn, and advance workforce development solutions. These include:
- Regular virtual meetings to address relevant topics in workforce development. View a list of past convenings and access the recordings and slides.
- Reports, surveys, and other resources that make informed recommendations on an equitable transition to the clean energy workforce. View our resources.
- In-person Solutions Summits that convene employers, training providers, and community-based organizations to address workforce development solutions.
How Do I Get Involved?
The Alliance is an inclusive effort; please get in touch if you are interested in being involved! Join the National Clean Energy Workforce Alliance using the form below.
Thank you in advance for joining us in developing more resilient, healthy, and prosperous communities through improved workforce development for clean energy technology and jobs.
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Photo courtesy GAF Energy
Reports and Resources
Key Recommendations: Cultivating a Diverse and Skilled Talent Pipeline for the Equitable Transition
This 2023 report provides top-line recommendations for how to develop a skilled and equitable clean energy workforce. It will help funders, program designers, and those implementing workforce programs to focus resources where they will be most impactful—and most supportive of a just transition.
CAREER Pathways Activation Framework Initiative
The CAREER Pathways Activation Framework IREC is developing is an emerging model designed to help employers, training providers, educators, community-based organizations, and workforce system partners connect career exploration to real employment outcomes.
It builds on existing career pathways and sector strategies, with a focus on activating pathways, enabling learners and job seekers to move from awareness to training to employment in a clear, coordinated, and supported way.
The framework articulates six core components that comprise successful workforce development efforts:
- (C) Clarify Demand
Identify high-growth sectors, priority occupations, and employer needs to ensure alignment with real job opportunities. - (A) Align Pathways
Define clear, accessible entry points and progression routes, including training, credentials, and advancement. - (R) Reimagine Exploration & Exposure
Deliver engaging, experiential career exploration through tools such as career maps, short courses, simulations, and storytelling. - (E) Enable Connection
Connect learners directly to training and employment opportunities through platforms, partnerships, and work-based learning. - (E) Equity by Design
Ensure pathways are inclusive by addressing barriers and embedding wraparound supports and multiple entry points. - (R) Reinforce and Scale
Track outcomes, refine approaches, and expand successful models through data, partnerships, and continuous improvement.
In addition to these core components, the CAREER Framework also defines a set of career pathway stages and proposed metrics tracking that describe how individuals move from initial awareness to employment and advancement. These stages include:
- Career Awareness and Exploration
- Access to Pathways
- Readiness (Skills and Credentials)
- Employment Connections
- Employment Outcomes
- Retention and Advancement
While the core components describe how workforce systems are designed and improved, these stages define how individuals progress through those systems and how impacts can be measured.
This dual structure ensures that the framework not only reflects how systems should function, but also enables measurement of how effectively individuals move through career pathways.
This framework is not yet finalized. We are actively testing, refining, and validating the core components and stages with stakeholders to ensure the model reflects real-world conditions and needs.
The Alliance will be convening an interactive Workforce Strategy Lab on Monday, September 28 in Chicago, IL that will bring together employers, training providers, community-based organizations, workforce leaders, educators, and public sector partners to help co-design and refine the CAREER Pathways Activation Framework.
Stay tuned for more details on the framework! If you’d like to share feedback, be included in future vetting activities, or discuss the framework with our team, we invite you to get in touch at info@greenworkforceconnect.org.
Green Workforce Connect
Led by IREC, Green Workforce Connect is a free, publicly accessible platform designed to bridge the gap between job seekers, employers, educators, and community partners in the rapidly expanding clean energy sector. The platform offers resources to help employers recruit and retain top talent through training and apprenticeship programs, while allowing candidates to explore growing local career paths. By connecting diverse stakeholders, it ensures equitable access to workforce development, training, and employment opportunities across the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries.
Below are a few recommendations on where to get started:
- Registered Apprenticeships Toolkit for Clean Energy Employers
- IREC Credentialing Programs for Clean Energy Training
- A Landscape Analysis of Tech Careers in the Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Fields
- Outreach and Engagement Toolkit for Weatherization Workforce Development
Expansion of Registered Apprenticeship Programs in Clean Energy
This End of Project Report for the Apprenticeships in Clean Energy (ACE) Network initiative provides a comprehensive overview of efforts to expand Registered Apprenticeship (RA) opportunities within the clean energy sector.
Workforce Solution Convenings
IREC held convenings with organizations across the workforce development landscape to identify challenges, strategies, and solutions. Download our summaries of the results.