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[ Press Release 12/05/2007 ]

The Council of the City of New York
Council Member James F. Gennaro

Chairman, Environmental Committee

For Immediate Release

CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JAMES F. GENNARO AND THE NYC APOLLO ALLIANCE ANNOUNCE FINDINGS OF MAJOR STUDY ON GREEN COLLAR JOBS IN NEW YORK CITY

Report Recommends that NYC Develop Strategies for Linking Sustainability Initiatives and the Growth of Green Businesses to Job Creation and Retention

First of a Series of Reports Focuses on Jobs in Energy Efficiency

New York - Dec. 5 - Queens Council Member James Gennaro, Chair, Committee on Environmental Protection today joined Ed Ott, Executive Director, NYC Central Labor Council, and Chair, NYC Apollo Alliance, to announce the findings of a major study on environmental sustainability and job creation, Growing Green Collar Jobs: Energy Efficiency. The report, the first in a series, surveys the jobs involved in increasing the energy efficiency of existing buildings through energy efficiency upgrades, efficient building operations and energy management. The job opportunities created by these efforts involve engineers, designers, building and construction trades, building maintenance and operations staff and IT specialists. Growing Green Collar Jobs: Energy Efficiency was prepared by Urban Agenda for the New York City Apollo Alliance, and supported by City Council.

According to Council Member Gennaro, "All the legislation we've passed over the last few years-on green buildings, energy efficiency and, just last week, on reducing carbon dioxide emissions, strengthen and codify the City's sustainability plan, improve our environment and provide great jobs in the 'green' sector. Since these green jobs have to be local, the City's environment and its economy can march together towards prosperity."

The report finds that environmental sustainability initiatives like PlaNYC 2030 present tremendous opportunities to spur economic development along with the creation of green collar jobs. The report defines green collar jobs as jobs that improve the environment and provide family-sustaining wages, benefits, workplace safety and opportunities for advancement. According to Ed Ott, "This report demonstrates that sustainability has the potential to be a powerful economic engine for New York City - delivering jobs and a diverse economy."

The report also calls on the City Council and the Administration to develop strategies to expand green collar jobs and the green economy, connect green businesses with workers, and create a Green Collar Jobs Corps to provide paid work experience, training and job placement to NYC's structurally unemployed and underemployed. The report argues that connecting disparate stakeholders such as business, labor, environmental justice and workforce development organizations around a coordinated plan to grow green collar jobs could prepare New York for future challenges and benefit all New Yorkers. According to Elizabeth Yeampierre, Chair of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, "The environmental justice community looks forward to playing an active role in supporting the recommendations of this report. With the growth of green collar jobs, people in our communities no longer have to choose between good paying jobs and their health and safety."

"The members of the Building Trades Employers' Association built New York City's world famous skyline and are now proud partners in helping New York City reduce greenhouse gas emissions by pioneering energy efficient construction. We applaud the recommendations of Growing Green Collar Jobs," said Lou Coletti, President and CEO of the Building Trades Employers' Association.

Energy efficiency was chosen as the subject for this first report because it is one of the largest, fastest growing and most promising areas of the green economy. Since 79% of New York City's greenhouse gas emissions come from existing buildings (rather than transportation, which is the case in most of the nation), increasing the energy efficiency of our building stock is critical to reducing New York City's climate change footprint. The City Council's passage last week of the Climate Protection Act, which sets mandatory citywide greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, ensures that developing and maintaining an energy efficiency workforce will be more crucial than ever. The jobs created by improving the environmental performance of New York City's buildings are difficult to outsource; offer entry-level, technical and professional opportunities; often grow out of existing construction building operation and maintenance skills; and show long-term growth potential.

The Council Member was also joined at the press conference by green collar workers currently employed in NYC as well as green collar business leaders.

Growing Green Collar Jobs: Energy Efficiency is based on research and interviews with over 50 experts - including local business, labor, environmental justice, and workforce development leaders. Future reports will cover clean and renewable energy, urban landscaping, green manufacturing, brownfield remediation and other sectors of the green economy.

The report is available for free and can be downloaded from the Urban Agenda website at www.urbanagenda.org.

Urban Agenda is a public policy, research and advocacy organization committed to building a stronger and more diverse labor movement and a socially, environmentally and economically just New York City. It is the convener of the NYC Apollo Alliance, which is part of a national network of diverse stakeholders - business, labor, environmental justice and community leaders - working together to link job creation and environmental sustainability.

Growing Green Collar Jobs: Energy Efficiency was funded by the City Council's Green Manufacturing Initiative, which was requested by the New York Industrial Retention Network (NYIRN) as part of a collaboration between NYIRN, NYC Apollo Alliance and the Industrial + Technology Assistance Corporation (ITAC) to assess the economic opportunities arising from sustainability initiatives. According to Adam Friedman, Executive Director of NYIRN, "This report illustrates how the need to conserve energy is leading to a second industrial revolution. The same will be true for recycling, for transportation and a host of other industries."

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NOTE TO MEDIA: You can access the complete report as well as photos from the press conference and photos of green collar workers available to include in your articles. Go to: http://urbanagenda.org/press.htm.

Press contacts:

Ellen Cooper, ellencooper@aol.com