Former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta on building a green energy economy
The U.S. faces historic threats from climate change, with rising seas, damage from storm surge, and frequent waves of extreme heat meting out measurable impacts on the nation’s economy.
New, green energy will need to be deployed at a rapid pace to help offset the devastating effects of climate change, presenting an opportunity to create millions of jobs and inject major investment into the U.S. economy.
“I think there’s a new sense of urgency to build that just and equitable economy,” said John Podesta, former White House Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton, at this week's Climate Jobs NY (CJNY) Summit. “We’re seeing the effects of climate today in very, very stark reality and how it's affecting peoples’ lives and livelihoods. How the 94 large-scale fires are burning across the American West. Four of the most polluted cities in the world were in the American West last weekend. Portland was the most polluted city in the world. So that sense of urgency comes from seeing this historic season of hurricanes, massive flooding we’re seeing in the Gulf, the fires we’re seeing in the West, and of course what’s going on around the world. Forty-seven million acres burning in Russia to massive flooding in Africa and South Asia. People get this, it’s an urgent problem. We have to tackle it.”
Podesta credits today's youth for much of the mobilization around climate change.
“I think that has really come from the youth organizing,” he said. “There’s just a massive movement of young people into the space and I think that’s inspired people of our age to just redouble our efforts to meet the moment and meet the challenge. And then this deepening commitment really comes from the intersection of the crisis we’re feeling today. Vice President Biden has talked about this. The economic crisis, the climate crisis, the racial justice crisis have common roots, and they have common solutions. We have to build back better. We have to put people to work in good jobs, family-supporting jobs that can build the economy but also create the resilience for our economy and begin down the path to a net zero economy by 2050.”
Creating good jobs, strong unions
Mike Fishman, former Secretary Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Principal Officer at CJNY, said a new dialogue has opened up between the climate and labor movements.
“As we’ve gone around the country and talked to leaders and to members, I'd say union members are no different than anybody in this country,” he said. “We all see that there’s a climate crisis and that it affects us every day. The fires, the hurricanes, the heat, the cold. And so there’s an urgency both from our kids and from our daily reality that labor has to be in this discussion. From the climate side, there’s been a new discussion about a need to bring labor into the discussion and talk about the jobs. Not just talk about the change in the environment and shutting things down, but building something up. Building the new energy of the future and making sure that those are good jobs. From the Biden team and from the states, there’s this movement to create these jobs."
Last week, Democratic lawmakers introduced an economic framework for fighting climate change, creating green jobs, and combating racial injustice.
The THRIVE Act (Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy) calls for strong labor protections and access to unions, and is seen as a path to economic recovery from the COVID crisis.
“Cleaner air, cleaner water, more livable planet, the public health impacts--it was kind of siloed in that environmental space,” Podesta said. “I think what's happened is both sides have broken those silos down. We have to have an inclusive conversation that’s relevant to communities. It has to be bottom up. And then I think it has to be supported at the top and going down. The national policy, federal policy, the kinds of ideas that Joe Biden has rolled out, the kind that Chuck Schumer put forward last week with the THRIVE resolution that is happening in the House. That creates an enabling environment, but at the end of the day each of the states are different, the communities are different, the job opportunities are different. There’s not a one size fits all. We need to come to the table together and think about how we’re going to both create the change that's needed on the climate crisis, but do it in a way that's going to create those good jobs. And I underscore the term ‘good.’”
As a way to create millions of higher-wage jobs, the Act calls for upgrading existing infrastructure, expanding wind and solar, and modernizing buildings to cut pollution and costs.
“Change is happening,” Podesta said. “We can build a low road, low wage economy, or a high road, high wage economy. That's up to us, and it's up to political leadership. I think together as a coalition, as a progressive community, pushing for that, we can get the job done starting on Nov. 3. But then moving forward to the kinds of policies and investments that are labor friendly, that include jobs standards. That has to be part of the national conversation, but I think it has to be driven down to state and local conversations as well.”
New York's Green New Deal serves as a paradigm for state-level leadership to combat climate change, spur growth of the green economy, and prioritize underserved communities.
“I think we’re seeing that happen as we did in New York when the climate groups and labor got together," Fishman said. "There was not much we couldn't accomplish if we did it together because we have the political strength together. And Gov. Cuomo was willing to act, and we could see that you could actually put in place policies for the clean energy economy that would create good jobs, the prevailing wage on jobs, protect labor movements, and neutrality agreements so that workers can organize. It should be said that it’s not just good jobs but union jobs because when unions are there, workers have a voice on the job and we can keep those jobs as good jobs with wage standards.”
Building a domestic supply chain will be at the core of driving a clean economy.
“I think it’s very smart to focus on this question of supply chains,” Podesta said. “A lot of this work inherently can't be offshore. It’s putting stuff in buildings, it’s building transmission, it’s creating new generation. That is going to happen here, and it needs to happen with union labor. Some of these markets are global, particularly in transportation. We need to focus on ensuring that those supply chains are built out here, that the policies support that, and that we have border adjustment to ensure that people can't dump the pollution that’s created overseas and undercut the market here. I think there’s plenty of potential to both create that labor base that's highly trained, skilled and productive here, and build the industry of the future here. I talk to our friends in Europe--they're on the same pilgrimage. Everybody wants to get in on the action.”