The Biden administration is hoping to hire more than 1,000 workers to help with climate change solutions as part of a newly announced “Clean Energy Corps.”
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a video announcing the effort that this group will work on projects like deploying clean energy and designing electric vehicle charging networks.
This is the biggest staffing expansion at the Energy Department since it was established in 1977, it said in a statement.
The department added that funding for the corps will come from $62 billion that came from the bipartisan infrastructure law.
The program appears to mirror Democrats’ proposed Civilian Climate Corps — an idea that would hire workers to fight climate change and has generated enthusiasm among progressives. Such a program would be established by the Democrats’ currently stalled social and climate spending bill, so its future is unclear.
As part of the Clean Energy Corps, the administration is hiring workers from a variety of backgrounds including physical science and engineering in addition to business administration and project management.
In a statement, Granholm described the project as an “open call for all Americans who are passionate about taking a proactive role in tackling the climate crisis and want to join the team that is best positioned to lead this transformative work.”
The administration has emphasized the need to transition to clean energy, but has run into roadblocks, particularly in Congress where it needs to secure the support of swing vote Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on its climate agenda.