Washington, D.C. (April 22, 2020): The Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) today announced the creation of the Labor Energy Partnership (LEP), a joint effort to develop a framework for the 21st Century energy system that creates and preserves quality jobs while addressing the climate crisis. A formal agreement establishing the LEP was signed this week by Richard L. Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, and Ernest J. Moniz, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of EFI, who served as the 13th U.S. Secretary of Energy from 2013-2017.
The LEP, to be jointly staffed by EFI and the AFL-CIO, is based on a shared commitment to high-quality jobs, social equity, and workers’ rights. It will focus its work on a series of critical policy analyses that will provide practical, achievable solutions to the technological, social, and regional barriers to implementing a 21st Century energy transition.
The LEP, to be jointly staffed by EFI and the AFL-CIO, is based on a shared commitment to high-quality jobs, social equity, and workers’ rights. It will focus its work on a series of critical policy analyses that will provide practical, achievable solutions to the technological, social, and regional barriers to implementing a 21st Century energy transition.
Trumka stated: “The energy sector is a key driver of the American economy, providing good jobs across a wide range of technologies. As we look at how to return to work safely and begin to recover from the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes, one of our most important responses should be significant federal support for high-quality energy jobs. We can put a lot of people to work by ramping up energy investment and becoming the global leader in energy technologies across the board.”
“This partnership is being forged at a time of crisis that poses great economic challenges to our nation,” said Moniz. “We have seen over the last decade how the early stages of the low-carbon energy transition have driven job growth, so modernizing our energy system must be a central component of the coming economic reconstruction. Our Labor Energy Partnership will offer realistic pathways to accelerate the energy transition by meeting and then exceeding our Paris commitments while creating high quality jobs across all energy technologies.”
Moniz and Trumka noted that the LEP is guided by four principles:
- Energy policy must be based on solid scientific review that acknowledges that climate change is real, anthropogenic, and represents an existential threat to human society.
- Successful social solutions to climate change must be based on an “all-of-the above” energy source strategy that is regionally focused, flexible, preserves optionality, and addresses the crisis of stranded workers.
- An essential priority of all climate policy solutions is the preservation of existing jobs, wherever possible, and the creation of new ones that are equal to or better than those that are displaced.
- Climate policy represents an economic opportunity to the United States when the benefits of new technology deployment result in the creation of quality jobs and the creation of competitive domestic supply chains.
Secretary Moniz will be offering more details on the LEP during his appearance at a virtual Earth Day celebration sponsored by EFI and the Aspen Institute’s Energy & Environment Program today at 3 p.m. ET. The livestream of the event can be accessed HERE.
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