The Energy Department is creating a Clean Energy Corps and launching a hiring portal to attract 1,000 additional workers focused on climate change and clean energy, The Climate 202 has scooped.
People who join the Clean Energy Corps will pursue projects aimed at accelerating the deployment of clean energy and cutting planet-warming emissions. For example, participants will jump-start an initiative to build thousands of miles of electric transmission lines to carry wind and solar power to communities nationwide.
The effort marks the latest sign that President Biden is harnessing the powers of the federal government to meet his ambitious climate goals, as Democrats' Build Back Better Act remains stalled in Congress.
“It’s truly a remarkable time to be at the Department of Energy as we set off to implement the historic $62 billion in clean energy investments from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. "The launch of our Clean Energy Corps is the latest definitive step along our path to making transformational changes to America’s energy sector and ensuring a clean energy future for all. We’re calling on people of all backgrounds and career levels who understand the urgency of tackling climate change now, and are eager to join the team that is best positioned to do so.”
The corps will include current career staff as well as 1,000 new employees across more than a dozen offices, marking the largest expansion of the Energy Department's workforce since its establishment in 1977. To recruit people, the department is launching a hiring portal that allows applicants to indicate specific areas of interest, such as public policy, energy finance and legislative affairs.
“There are people in the C-suite that we need to attract to DOE, but there are also people in more junior legislative, policy and project management roles,” Tarak Shah, chief of staff at the Energy Department, told The Climate 202. “So we're looking for people who have just graduated all the way to people who have been in the energy business for a long time.”
The Energy Department is relying on a special hiring authority included in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure legislation that Biden signed in November. The bipartisan bill provided $62 billion in funding for the department, some of which can be used to grow its workforce.
The bill also allocated $20 billion for clean energy demonstration projects in areas such as clean hydrogen, carbon capture, energy storage and small modular reactors. The department used that funding to establish an Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations in December.
Still, the Build Back Better Act, which contains a $320 billion package of tax credits for clean energy and electric vehicles, remains stalled in the Senate.
The Department of Homeland Security also announced today that it will create a new program to recruit experts focused on climate change. The two-year program "will be instrumental in helping the Department adapt to our changing climate by providing hands-on experience and guidance to young professionals interested in climate adaptation and resilience," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.
“Frankly, we are rather behind the eight ball somewhat in terms of moving out strongly in this decade,” he said. “We have the administration's 50 to 52 percent reduction goal by 2030, and for that to happen, we're going to have to really move quickly to start putting these funds to work on effective ways for decarbonization.”
Moniz, who is now president and CEO of the nonprofit Energy Futures Initiative, noted that several offices across the Energy Department work on reducing emissions from transportation, the country's largest source of greenhouse gases. He said the Clean Energy Corps could bring together staff in different offices to collaborate on decarbonizing transportation and developing advanced fuels such as hydrogen.
Still, Moniz cautioned that recruiting and hiring 1,000 people will be no small task.
“We know from experience with the Recovery Act that it's a challenge to ramp up [hiring] dramatically,” he said, referring to the stimulus package that Obama signed in 2009, before Moniz's time as energy secretary from 2013 to 2017.
Dan Reicher, who was assistant secretary of energy for energy efficiency and renewable energy under President Bill Clinton, agreed with that assessment. He noted that staffing levels at the Energy Department dropped under President Donald Trump, whose administration prioritized the production of fossil fuels.
“It's not easy to hire that number of people, and particularly folks who have some background in what this money is going to be spent on,” Reicher said. “So to the extent there's a challenging side of this, it's the hiring.”
The number of permanent employees at the Energy Department fell from 13,911 at the beginning of Obama's second term to 12,461 at the end of Trump's presidency, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management compiled by Andrew Ba Tran, an investigative data reporter at The Washington Post.
As of Sept. 21, there were 12,934 permanent staff members at the department, according to the data.
People who join the Clean Energy Corps will pursue projects aimed at accelerating the deployment of clean energy and cutting planet-warming emissions. For example, participants will jump-start an initiative to build thousands of miles of electric transmission lines to carry wind and solar power to communities nationwide.
The effort marks the latest sign that President Biden is harnessing the powers of the federal government to meet his ambitious climate goals, as Democrats' Build Back Better Act remains stalled in Congress.
“It’s truly a remarkable time to be at the Department of Energy as we set off to implement the historic $62 billion in clean energy investments from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. "The launch of our Clean Energy Corps is the latest definitive step along our path to making transformational changes to America’s energy sector and ensuring a clean energy future for all. We’re calling on people of all backgrounds and career levels who understand the urgency of tackling climate change now, and are eager to join the team that is best positioned to do so.”
The corps will include current career staff as well as 1,000 new employees across more than a dozen offices, marking the largest expansion of the Energy Department's workforce since its establishment in 1977. To recruit people, the department is launching a hiring portal that allows applicants to indicate specific areas of interest, such as public policy, energy finance and legislative affairs.
“There are people in the C-suite that we need to attract to DOE, but there are also people in more junior legislative, policy and project management roles,” Tarak Shah, chief of staff at the Energy Department, told The Climate 202. “So we're looking for people who have just graduated all the way to people who have been in the energy business for a long time.”
The Energy Department is relying on a special hiring authority included in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure legislation that Biden signed in November. The bipartisan bill provided $62 billion in funding for the department, some of which can be used to grow its workforce.
The bill also allocated $20 billion for clean energy demonstration projects in areas such as clean hydrogen, carbon capture, energy storage and small modular reactors. The department used that funding to establish an Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations in December.
Still, the Build Back Better Act, which contains a $320 billion package of tax credits for clean energy and electric vehicles, remains stalled in the Senate.
The Department of Homeland Security also announced today that it will create a new program to recruit experts focused on climate change. The two-year program "will be instrumental in helping the Department adapt to our changing climate by providing hands-on experience and guidance to young professionals interested in climate adaptation and resilience," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.
Hiring challenges ahead
Ernest Moniz, who served as secretary of energy under President Barack Obama, told The Climate 202 that the Clean Energy Corps could swiftly mobilize to help meet Biden's goal of cutting carbon emissions 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.“Frankly, we are rather behind the eight ball somewhat in terms of moving out strongly in this decade,” he said. “We have the administration's 50 to 52 percent reduction goal by 2030, and for that to happen, we're going to have to really move quickly to start putting these funds to work on effective ways for decarbonization.”
Moniz, who is now president and CEO of the nonprofit Energy Futures Initiative, noted that several offices across the Energy Department work on reducing emissions from transportation, the country's largest source of greenhouse gases. He said the Clean Energy Corps could bring together staff in different offices to collaborate on decarbonizing transportation and developing advanced fuels such as hydrogen.
Still, Moniz cautioned that recruiting and hiring 1,000 people will be no small task.
“We know from experience with the Recovery Act that it's a challenge to ramp up [hiring] dramatically,” he said, referring to the stimulus package that Obama signed in 2009, before Moniz's time as energy secretary from 2013 to 2017.
Dan Reicher, who was assistant secretary of energy for energy efficiency and renewable energy under President Bill Clinton, agreed with that assessment. He noted that staffing levels at the Energy Department dropped under President Donald Trump, whose administration prioritized the production of fossil fuels.
“It's not easy to hire that number of people, and particularly folks who have some background in what this money is going to be spent on,” Reicher said. “So to the extent there's a challenging side of this, it's the hiring.”
The number of permanent employees at the Energy Department fell from 13,911 at the beginning of Obama's second term to 12,461 at the end of Trump's presidency, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management compiled by Andrew Ba Tran, an investigative data reporter at The Washington Post.
As of Sept. 21, there were 12,934 permanent staff members at the department, according to the data.
