The Finger Lakes Region Clean Energy Workforce - Current State and Future Prospects
What does the transition to clean energy mean for the Rochester region? CGR was engaged by the local nonprofit Climate Solutions Accelerator to explore how our regional workforce can be optimally prepared for the new jobs and changes to come. Our report included a qualitative engagement with Finger Lakes regional stakeholders, through interviews and focus groups, and a quantitative analysis of employment statistics and trends, including both core Clean Energy fields and related occupations, and “just transition” industries – those involving fossil-fuel energy sources – that are subject to reduction during a transition to Clean Energy. We found the Clean Energy ecosystem in the Finger Lakes region in 2023 employed an estimated 96,000 people, or 16% of the regional workforce, including core, supportive and tangential connections to CE. This workforce has increased just 0.3% in the last 10 years but is expected to grow 10% in the next 10 years. To prepare the workforce and maximize gains to our economy, we found that a variety of leading institutions and stakeholders need to improve collaboration and take additional actions to promote an understanding of opportunities and the pathways for workers. We recommended improving workforce developers’ understanding of CE jobs and opportunities, using CE opportunities to revitalize interest in the trades among young workers and improving diversity within the CE workforce, among other suggestions.
Report Date: Aug 2024
Author(s): Erika Rosenberg
, Donna Harris
, Deon Willis
Subject(s): Landscape Scans
, Stakeholder & Community Engagement
Location: Monroe, New York