Our research will produce data to serve a variety of needs for the clean-energy manufacturing industry in the State of Illinois and beyond:
- Evaluating how clean-energy workforce opportunities provide transitions for displaced energy workers
- Quantifying the impact of decarbonization on economic development, employment, and growth
- Identifying opportunities to maximize job creation and workforce development, mindful of job creation in historically underrepresented populations and environmental justice communities
- Recommending policies that will create high-quality family- and community-sustaining jobs
- Developing strategies to address current and future supply chain vulnerabilities and challenges
- Identifying how to expand access to high-quality clean energy jobs for environmental justice communities and other frontline communities that have faced historical inequities (e.g., best practices for building pipelines of workers through on-the-job training programs, job hubs, and apprenticeship programs)
- Assessing the types of support that local governments will need to help communities develop their own community energy, climate and jobs plans
- Evaluating initiatives, identifying research support and promulgating best practices for specific programs (e.g., Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment programs)