Massachusetts needs to train about 29,000 additional clean energy workers by 2030 to reach its climate goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s 2024 Industry Report.
Jennifer Applebaum, MassCEC’s managing director of workforce development, said in reaching that estimate the agency looked at both its goals and what the market is saying at the moment.
“What drives hiring is absolutely still local industry and business demand,” Applebaum said. “The programs and workforce efforts that we set up and support have to be tied to that local and real time demand.”
The Healey Administration, in partnership with Social Finance — a national nonprofit and registered investment advisor — recently implemented the Massachusetts Climate Careers Fund to fill climate employment gaps, grow economic mobility and prop up a diverse workforce.
The CCF offers 0% interest loans to low-income Massachusetts residents for climate career training. Once a worker is certified in a “good-paying role that supports the climate transition,” and earns at least $47,000 annually, they begin repaying their loan. Repayments will help fund future participants, according to the Social Finance website.
“We get to spend that same dollar over and over again,” Massachusetts Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer said at a climate workforce forum of about 50 people hosted by the Boston Foundation and Social Finance Oct. 8.
Programs include electrical and plumbing apprenticeships, HVAC certification and solar tech training.
The original goal for the fund was $10 million, comprising both public and private philanthropic investment. MassCEC has not formally announced what the state’s specific contribution amount towards the fund will be yet, Applebaum said.
Kirstin Hill, president and chief operating officer of Social Finance, said there has been a “meaningful focus” on higher education nationwide but less investment in the workforce compared to other developed countries globally.
“One of the critical levers that’s missing, not only in Massachusetts, but across the country, is the workforce, and is the skilled labor workforce, in particular,” she said.
Applebaum said historically the workforce was a limiting factor for clean energy, but with properly-skilled employees, these companies could be growing faster.
“Solutions are reaching places where there’s scale and need for much larger numbers of folks that are going to do the installation and the maintenance to make these changes really happen across the commonwealth,” Applebaum said.
Barriers that can prevent both training and employment include transportation, child-care and rent payments. The opportunity cost for training can sometimes derail workers from completing the needed steps, and other times, the jobs trained workers hold can be unsustainable for personal or external reasons.
The International Renewable Energy Agency reported in July that 91% of renewable energy projects in 2024 were less expensive than their fossil fuel alternatives while renewables outpaced coal generation globally for the first half of 2025, according to a Global Electricity Mid-Year Insights report by Ember, a global energy think tank.
So the “horse is out the barn” — or a done deal — Hoffer said at the forum, referring to the globalized clean energy transition.
“[Massachusetts] is in line with that forward thinking, and the market is supporting these transitions,” said Mary Wagner, clean energy training manager at Holyoke Community College.
Jobs in the clean energy sector include electricians, energy auditors, electric vehicle mechanics and HVAC technicians as well as solar, offshore wind, EV repairs and geothermal technology related careers.
The clean energy industry makes up 3% of the Massachusetts workforce, according to MassCEC’s 2024 Executive Summary, and the industry has experienced 100% job growth since 2010. As it expands, the supply of workers and the training and resources needed must increase to keep up with demand.
“Filling those jobs is a tremendous economic impact. We need the workers, and [these are] good high paying jobs.” said Rep. Jeffrey Roy, D-Franklin, who is currently sponsoring a bill to establish green energy tracks in vocational schools.
Andrew Baker, workforce training manager at HCC, expects there to be job growth in the trades during a time when other jobs are threatened by artificial intelligence.
“You can’t AI your way out of a broken furnace,” Baker said.