For Immediate Release
September 21, 2022

Jersey Renews Response on the Release of the Council on the Green Economy Green Jobs Report

TRENTON – This morning at an event for Climate Week NYC Governor Murphy announced the release of the Council on the Green Economy Report, Green Jobs for a Sustainable Future, and 12-month action plan. At the same time the Governor also signed an Executive Order today to increase the target goal from 7.5MW for offshore wind to 11MW by 2040.

In February 2021, Governor Phil Murphy created the Council on the Green Economy and tasked it to deliver a report with recommendations on how New Jersey should transition to a green economy. According to the report, New Jersey can expect to see an additional 314,888 net job-years supported over the next 10 years based on current green policies and investments enacted across New Jersey to date. The report lays out steps New Jersey must take to create an inclusive, vibrant green economy that will create business opportunities, uplift communities, and create good paying jobs.

The transition to a green, clean energy economy presents enormous opportunity for economic growth in our state, but this must be done in a way that respects workers and is inclusive of underserved communities and populations, many of which have been historically prevented from engaging in the most dynamic areas of our economy. Today’s report lays out the roadmap for our state to complete this goal focusing on nine key areas:

Create High-Quality Green Jobs
Prioritize Local and Targeted Job Creation
Put All Energy Workers Front and Center
Target Gaps in Workforce Development
Address Needs of Underserved Workforce
Partner with Unions on Training
Boost Innovation
Expand Manufacturing and Supply Chain
Align with Education Ecosystem

“Jersey Renews applauds the release of today’s report and thanks the Administration, as well as the many public members of the Council on the Green Economy, who worked diligently to create a roadmap for our state to grow the green economy while centering focus on New Jersey workers and communities,” said Drew Tompkins, Campaign Director of the Jersey Renews Coalition. “The policies laid out in the report will expand economic opportunities for historically excluded communities, fight climate change, and create thousands of good paying, including many union jobs in our state.”

“The roadmap offers policy solutions that will help create a green economy that will produce good green jobs that are accessible to all New Jerseyans,” said Debra Coyle, Executive Director of the New Jersey Work Environment Council, and a member of the Council of the Green Economy. “The transition to the green economy will create thousands of good paying, family sustaining jobs for New Jersey workers and offers unprecedented opportunity to expand our current workforce that will ensure fossil fuel workers will not be left behind.”

“Workforce development and green job training, particularly for communities of color and low-income communities, is essential for the moral legitimacy of the green economy in New Jersey,” said Reverend Ronald Tuff, New Jersey organizer for Green Faith. “We welcome the initial recommendations of the council in this regard and hope that they are backed up with the substantial and sustained funding that they require and deserve.”

“Offshore wind is the best way to reach New Jersey’s clean renewable energy mandates and Gov. Murphy’s Executive Order cements the reality that offshore wind will continue to expand over the next decade plus. The growth of the clean energy economy can be a boon to New Jersey’s clean energy future and kudos to the work of the Council for charting that future. The transition from a fossil fuel economy will be a transition, but we can create a more sustainable future that protects the public health of all workers and families, expands clean, renewable energy and protects our environment,” said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey. “The report’s roadmap recommendations should be a clean energy economy blueprint on how we can reach Gov. Murphy’s commitment to reduce global warming pollution by 50% this decade.”

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Jersey Renews is a broad-based coalition of labor, faith, community, and environmental organizations working for state-based action on climate and good, family-sustaining jobs in the transition to a green economy.