American Climate Corps Launches with 2,000 Paid Positions to Tackle Climate Challenges
The Biden administration has launched the American Climate Corps, a program offering 2,000 paid positions nationwide to address climate change and support environmental conservation. The program aims to recruit and train more than 20,000 young people in skills needed to tackle climate change, before funneling them into clean energy trades or federal service.
Positions available through the American Climate Corps include invasive plant manager, botany technician, and fisheries intern. These positions offer opportunities to work on a variety of projects, including forest monitoring, trail building, and restoring coastal ecosystems. The first batch of job listings went live on Monday, timed to Earth Day, and the website will be updated regularly with new openings. The first class of participants will begin their work this summer.
The American Climate Corps is a collaboration among several federal agencies, including AmeriCorps, the departments of Commerce, Interior, Agriculture, Labor and Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Successful applicants will be connected with an apprenticeship curriculum, and some will become eligible for early career opportunities in the federal government. The program will give them “the opportunity to be trained in the foundational skills necessary for careers in the clean energy and climate resilience economy” and offer a path “to good paying, union jobs,” the White House said in a statement.
Republican lawmakers in Congress have attacked the program, which Biden has sought $8 billion to expand. However, the Sunrise Movement and other environmental groups have long pushed for the creation of a national climate corps. In a statement, Executive Director Aru Shiney-Ajay celebrated the job board’s launch but vowed to work toward the program’s expansion.
“The American Climate Corps will hire young people to better their communities and fight the climate crisis,” she said. “We are organizing to make sure Congress funds this program so it can meet the scale of the crises we face. We will win a program that’s big enough for all the young people wanting a job stopping the climate crisis.”
