Recommendations

1. The City should significanly expand the MillionTreesNYC training program with particular attention to vacant Climber and Pruner positions.
2. The City should tie workforce development funding and resources such as wage subsidies, tax breaks or training grants to green incentives and investments aiming to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
3. The City should commission a study on occupational health and safety training in emerging and unregulated green subsectors including Renewable Energy installation; Home Performance Contracting and Weatherization; and Hybrid Vehicle Maintenance.
4. The Mayor should task the Office of Recycling Outreach and Education to work with industry partners to develop industry-backed certifications in the deconstruction, recycling, and reuse subsectors.
5. Green Training and Employment requirements should be written into any incentive programs that support private sector energy efficiency and renewables.
6. The City should monitor incumbent building management workers’ retro-commissioning and efficient maintenance skills and training to ensure that they’re prepared to realize revised energy and building codes and sustainability goals (30 percent emissions reduction target by 2030).
7. In order to further integrate and build the capacity of existing building analyst, renewable, and energy efficiency training programs, the City should work with NYSERDA to create a training resource center with high tech equipment and building analyst facilities to be utilized by multiple providers like that of Hudson Valley Community College’s TEC-SMART program.
8. The Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability should create a Workforce Development point person to monitor the workforce needs of PlaNYC Initiatives as they are developed and implemented.
9. The City should legislate or otherwise make rules that green workforce training be a mandatory component in publicly funded economic development through inclusion as a criterion in Request for Proposals, environmental impact reviews, etc.

Recommendations

1. The Mayor should task Small Business Services (SBS) with initiating a strategic outreach effort to small green businesses – specifically deconstruction companies, home performance contractors, green roof companies, and weatherization non-profits – to: a) Introduce them to NYC Business Solutions Resources, b) Identify workforce needs and training capacity, and c) Convene workforce capacity building seminars.
2. The City should convene green businesses when developing any sustainability initiative (eg. Solid Waste Management Plan; Introductory No. 395-A) to identify the private sector’s capacity to reach sustainability targets with a trained workforce. 
3. SBS should work with The Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability (OLTPS) to identify non-green companies in emerging green fields (i.e. a traditional electrical contractor) to help them transition and become more sustainable.
4. The Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability should work with DCA, EDC, SBS, OER, DEP on developing a cross-sectoral green business certification or rating system that could serve as criteria for evaluating private enterprises applying for green workforce development funding or supports in the mold of M/WBE certification – This would be different then existing ‘green’ certifications in that it would not be particular to any one sector or skill set. It would instead be a standard or level of recognition that most green companies would seek ranging from green manufacturers to energy efficiency companies. This certification could potentially also be accessible to ‘non-green’ companies that do ‘green things’ (local sourcing, composting, use full lifecycle products, energy efficient facility or office etc.). This certification would also have a branding component mirroring that of B-corporations.
5. The OLTPS should convene industry stakeholders representing the different green certifications (USGBC, BPI, LEED, ASHRAE etc.) to create streamlined certifications for each sector that better identifies a company’s ability to reach the city’s green targets. Such a certification would touch on skills that green employers need that are not currently reflected in industry-standard certifications.
6. Companies bidding on green projects, such as construction of recycling facilities or retrofitting of public buildings, or applying for green incentives should disclose general information on their employees’ skills, certification and experience loosely in the mold of an Environmental Impact Statement. Such data collection mechanisms can create a centralized pool of information on green collar jobs and enable government to identify how to best support green training and certifications.

Recommendations

1. The City should work with CUNY to further develop Building Performance Institute (BPI) Training Resources. Specifically, they should (a) expand the capacity of current colleges offering BPI training; (b) identify new colleges to offer BPI training; and (c) finance a public awareness campaign to promote BPI certification.
2. In order to further integrate and build the capacity of existing building analyst, renewable, and energy efficiency training programs, the City should work with NYSERDA to create a training resource center with high tech equipment and building analyst facilities to be utilized by multiple providers like that of Hudson Valley Community College’s TEC-SMART program.
3. The City should work with the Department of Consumer Affairs to develop a mandatory Green Workforce Training as part of the Home Improvement Contractors License process.
4. The City should seek to maximize flexible use of federal and state workforce development resources to support capacity-building in and effective utilization of green jobs training and education programs incumbent and unemployed workers, by, for example, requesting waivers under the federal Workforce Investment Act. 
5. City Council should convene a Task Force of stakeholders – from energy, urban forestry, transportation, environmental remediation and green product development green sectors – to explore creating a cross-sectoral green Workforce Intermediary
6. City Council should earmark funding to green the Jobs to Build On program. 
7. The City itself should play a leading role and set an example by requiring green training where relevant to specific job titles as a part of Human Resources policies for promotion and advancement.   
8. The Mayor’s Office of Adult Education and the Mayor’s Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability should develop an adult education teaching curriculum on sustainability modeled after the successful implementation of the curriculum recently completed with the Department of Health.
9. Human Resource Administration should develop a centralized online resource for training in the city and compile information on what types of certifications are available.
10. The City should work with the Department of Energy to incorporate retrofit and building efficiency work into the curricula of construction-based Career and Technical Education (CTE) schools.
11. The Mayor should convene a Commission on Energy Efficiency Construction Work to identify strategies to transition benched construction workers to building retrofit work.
12. The City should press Small Business Services to include energy efficiency and/or retrofits on its list of applicable ‘sectors’ in the Workforce 1 Request for Proposals process.
13. The Mayor should issue an Executive Order mandating the incorporation of wage, safety and health, local hiring and local sourcing requirements, and subcontractor oversight provisions into specifications for all projects working toward PlaNYC’s goals, such as renewable energy pilot projects, destination park completions, or municipal retrofits.
14. The City Council should create a Task Force to work with third-party financiers who fund energy efficiency or other green projects that aim to fulfill public mandates in an effort to ensure that private capital attached to the City’s sustainability initiatives create jobs with good wages, benefits and opportunities for advancement.
15. The City should work with the Workforce Investment Board and the CUNY Center for Urban Research to ensure that green businesses are surveyed and engaged as part of the Labor Market Information System. Survey questions should include — Did these jobs create pathways out of poverty? Who is getting the jobs? What are the job retention rates? Do people advance? Is there a career path?
16. An oversight committee should be established to provide guidance on workplace safety and health, and job hazard analysis, utilizing applicable OSHA standards and other applicable regulatory requirements, and best professional practices and guidance where legal standards do not exist or are outdated. The committee should include representatives from government, business, labor, and community-based organizations, as well as scientific and other experts.
17. The City should convene a green job standards task force that includes representatives from federal, state and local agencies, such as the Department of Energy, Division of Housing and Community Renewal, the Public Service Commission, and the Mayors Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability, as well as advocates from community, environmental and labor organizations. Such a committee would allow policy and program coordination (to avoid contradictory work) as well as oversight and enforcement of job standards for green jobs.
18. Require that public incentives be tied to job standards. Public investment in green industries and job growth and development, whether in the form of tax breaks, grants, subsidies or contracts to businesses, must be tied to living wage, and, where applicable, prevailing wage jobs with standards.
19. The City should require Community Benefit Agreements in all major development projects in which the City plays a direct or indirect role in financing or facilitating a development through the land use process.
20. Elected city officials should foster labor-business partnerships through dual-stakeholder forums in an effort to organize the City’s emerging green sectors.

Recommendations

1. The City should make existing sustainability initiatives (e.g. Million Trees Initiative, Destination Park Completions, Department of Environmental Protection remediation and cleanup projects) and other citywide projects greener through local training and hiring provisions and strong community-benefit agreements. 
2. The City Council should work with community leaders to develop community-based green entrepreneurial workshops focused on Building Performance Institute certification and small business development.
3. The City should tap and promote federal and innovative resources for community-based green job training initiatives such as Energy Block Grants and smart-growth funding.
4. The City should partner with community-based organizations to develop a green job training resource component of GreeNYC and other public campaigns pertaining to sustainability.
5. The City should work with and convene appropriate agencies and community youth programs to develop educational and awareness tools on sustainability issues and green collar training for young people.
6. The City should focus on classifying green training sites as Human Resources Administration (HRA) approved and focus on increasing HRA’s knowledge of existing green workforce development.
7. The City should lobby for striking incarceration barriers from federal funding for green collar jobs.

Recommendations

1. The City should convene green businesses when developing any sustainability initiative (eg. Solid Waste Management Plan; Introductory No. 395-A) to identify the private sector’s capacity to reach sustainability targets with a trained workforce.
2. The City should work with the Workforce Investment Board and the CUNY Center for Urban Research to ensure that green businesses are surveyed and engaged as part of the Labor Market Information System.  
3. Small Business Services should work with The Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability (OLTPS) to identify non-green companies in emerging green fields (i.e. a traditional electrical contractor) to help them transition and become more sustainable.
4. OLTPS should convene industry stakeholders representing the different green certifications (USGBC, BPI, LEED, ASHRAE etc.) to create streamlined certifications for each sector that better identifies a company’s ability to reach the city’s green targets. Such a certification would touch on skills that green employers need, not currently reflected in industry-standard certifications.
5. Companies bidding on green projects – such as construction of recycling facilities or retrofitting of public buildings – or applying for green incentives should disclose general information on their employees’ skills, certification and experience loosely in the mold of an Environmental Impact Statement. Such data collection mechanisms can create a centralized pool of information on green collar jobs and enable government to identify how to best support green training and certifications.
6. The City should incorporate local sourcing points into public procurement and on encouraging private sector local sourcing. This recommendation should be grounded in the idea that ‘sustainability is not only a new market, but a new way of doing business.’ 
7. The City should develop “Green Enterprise Zones” to build the capacity of green businesses to train and prepare their employee base.
8. The City should build the capacity of green companies to provide on-the-job training.