Green Jobs

Denver is expanding green job opportunities for under-resourced individuals through paid training programs and partnerships with employers, trade organizations, training providers, and community organizations. We strive to ensure that green jobs are quality jobs that:

  • Provide livable wages and benefits.
  • Allow workers to build skills and competitiveness in the workforce.
  • Provide opportunities for advancement.

Check out how Denver is creating green jobs and how to get started on a green job pathway below.

A green workforce is made up of individuals working in a variety of clean energy and natural resources management careers and trades. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), this type of job:

  • Increases efficient consumption of energy and raw materials.
  • Limits greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Minimizes waste and contamination.
  • Protects and restores ecosystems.
  • Contributes to adaptation to climate change.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Resources

Denver is committed to increasing access and reducing barriers to employment from people from under-resourced communities, people of color and workers in industries in transition. We seek to diversify the green workforce and make it more accessible and inclusive by:

  1. Recruiting residents from under-resourced communities and individuals with barriers to career-track employment into job training programs.
  2. Paying participants at least $20 an hour to learn green job skills
  3. Supporting all participants with wrap-around services such as:
    1. Connection to mental health services
    2. Transportation and clothing assistance Help enrolling and navigating public benefits
    3. Resume and Interview assistance
  4. Ensuring all training programs certify participants in sought-after credentials and provide support finding and keeping a job

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Resources

Metro Diversity & Economic Equity Partners (Metro DEEP):

For Denver’s African-descendant community. Develops: economic mobility, opportunity, and projects.

Learn more Metro DEEP

Colorado Inclusive Economy:

For CEOs and business leaders. Resources to help build diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies for companies.

Learn more Colorado Inclusive Economy

Renewables Forward - A Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiative:

Offers clean energy companies actionable handbooks to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in their organizations.

Learn more Renewables Forward

Toolkits:

Supporting Women:

For leaders of job training programs. How to help women and other underrepresented populations succeed in job training programs.

Get Supporting Women Toolkit

Job Quality:

For small-to-medium organizations. How to recruit and retain a high-performing workforce.

Get Job Quality Toolkit

Three Pillars of an Inclusive Economy:

For executives and senior leaders of mid-to-large sized companies. Also for small business owners. What does it mean to build an inclusive economy?

Get Three Pillars of an Inclusive Economy Toolkit

Small, Women- and Minority-owned Businesses

Social enterprise plays an integral role in advancing creative solutions to “green” our economy.

"Small businesses, the backbone of America’s economy, continue to employ the majority of the clean energy workforce. About 90 percent of all clean energy jobs were at companies that employed fewer than 100 workers".

- E2 Clean Jobs America 2022 report

Small Business Resources and Places to Go For Support:

Denver’s Office of Economic Development and Opportunity’s (DEDO) Division of Small Business Opportunity (DSBO) . This team works closely with hundreds of small, minority and women-owned businesses in Denver. Their goal is to help build the relationships and capacity so that these businesses can win city contracts for construction, professional services, and goods and services.

DEDO's "Build Your Business" Resources

You'll find a wealth of free advisory sessions, workshops, and tools, such as:

  • Encouraging aspiring or existing entrepreneurs
  • Making small loans
  • Helping next-stage firms expand
  • So much more!

Get DEDO's "Build Your Business" Resources

Employers: Why tap into the green employee pool

Workers trained in green methods have industry-specific knowledge about topics like:

  • Electric vehicle charging station installation and maintenance
  • Facilities management with an added understanding of waste, energy, water, materials, and consumables management
  • Solar installation and maintenance
  • Water quality management
  • Residential and commercial weatherization and auditing
  • Performing retrofits, installs, and maintenance of cold climate air source heat pumps

“Green” workers may have highly sought-after credentials such as:

  • OSHA certificates
  • Building Performance Inspection (BPI) Certification
  • Building Science Principles (BSP) Certification
  • LEED Green Associate
  • Asbestos AHEERA Insulator Certification
  • NABCEP Board certifications in Solar Installation

How to tap into the green employee pool?

  1. Employ graduates of Green Workforce training programs. Email us for more information.
  2. Connect with us to understand the benefits of beginning a Registered Apprenticeship Program or and how to get support. 

Learn About the State of Denver's Green Workforce Ecosystem

Executive Summary

In 2022, the Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency partnered with six organizations to better understand:

  • Denver’s current and future green workforce trends
  • Ways to improve diversity, equity and inclusion goals
  • Gaps in serving under-resourced communities

Each organization delivered a report with recommendations on how to deliver better, high-impact workforce development programs that support Denver’s climate goals. Top recommendations from these analysis are in the following two tabs.

Reports were written by the following organizations:

Recommendations to Bridge Denver's Green Jobs Gap

  1. Encourage registered apprenticeship programs in:
    1. natural resource management.
    2. electric mobility technology and infrastructure.
    3. clean energy.
  2. Expand and strengthen programs that let youth explore green careers by:
    1. Helping partners in achieve a Career Development Incentive Program certification.
    2. Working with state-wide organizations to bring sustainability education and training programs to Denver
  3. Support the development of new green business. Focus on small, women- and minority-owned businesses.
  4. Support scholarships for individuals from underserved communities to attend college and grad school in green fields.
  5. Support trainings for workers from jobs in transition in the latest clean technology.

Reports are available upon request.

Recommendations to Support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Goals

  1. Target training and support to serve the needs of under-represented workers. Pay program participants and provide wraparound support.
  2. Make Denver green workforce data accessible. Share data publicly .
  3. Allow for the adequate investment of time for diversity, equity and inclusion work.
  4. Develop a shared diversity, equity and inclusion language that can be updated.
  5. Institutionalize diversity, equity and inclusion work within the organizational framework through policy, processes, and programming.

Reports are available upon request.

Denver's Residential HVAC Workforce

Denver has a goal to electrify and improve energy efficiency in its homes. This will involve replacing aging and inefficient furnaces with heat pumps. Denver will need a skilled workforce to make those replacements. We wanted to find out how many more residential contractors we will need to meet the growing demand for heat pumps. We funded a study to find out. To hit our collective climate goals, the number of HVAC contractors skilled with heat pumps must grow by 23.6% every year.

Read the Full Report

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