A New Green Learning Agenda for Postsecondary Institutions

Lack of investment in postsecondary education and training, especially in historically marginalized communities, threatens the U.S. clean energy transition and environmental justice. Equitable access to green learning opportunities at the postsecondary level is necessary to build a diverse green workforce and ensures that the achievement of the country’s decarbonization goals achieves shared prosperity and wellbeing across all communities.

Postsecondary institutions play a crucial role in achieving a just transition by addressing underlying inequities through bolder policies and community-centered solutions. To facilitate this, Unbounded Associates undertook a two-part research project to illuminate for postsecondary institutions the extent of green learning opportunity gaps among historically marginalized communities, and to identify entry points for co-defining with these communities a New Green Learning Agenda for climate and environmental justice. 

Part 1

The report, Education and Training: An Opportunity to Achieve a Just Transition to a Low-Carbon, Socially Inclusive Economy, illuminates the extent and scope of postsecondary education and training investments needed to achieve a just transition in the U.S. The report maps the landscape of green jobs, green skills, and green learning opportunities with an eye toward understanding how gaps in these landscapes intersect with issues of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. The report also provides recommendations to postsecondary institution leaders and education decision makers to direct future U.S. climate policy attention toward more transformative investments in education and training. 

Part 2

Unbounded Associates collaborated with place-based research partners in Hawai‘i, Chicago, and Kentucky to explore community-driven approaches to closing green learning opportunity gaps. The report, Closing Green Learning Opportunity Gaps for a Just Transition: Transformative Approaches for a New Green Learning Agenda for Postsecondary Institutions, synthesizes insights from three case studies on the paradigm shift required among postsecondary institutions to unlock their potential as community-based actors. The report also offers a set of recommendations for postsecondary institutions to co-define with community-based organizations a New Green Learning Agenda—a vision for education and training in a climate-impacted world that promotes a just transition.

Green Learning Opportunities Database Request Form

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This work was generously funded by Lumina Foundation and Builders Initiative.