The engagement will work toward helping job seekers and employers navigate green career pathways
WGU Labs, an affiliate of Western Governors University (WGU), has invested in Julius, a social impact company with the mission to solve the talent needs of the rapidly transitioning clean energy industry by providing inclusive solutions to start and grow green careers.
The engagement will utilize WGU Labs’s supportive ecosystem to accelerate Julius’s scale and impact on the green workforce through research and go-to-market enhancement activities to improve the distribution and adoption of their solutions into the labor market at scale. This partnership enables the creation of inclusive pathways for diverse job seekers to start and grow green careers.
Industry research and reports show that there will be nine million new green jobs by 2032, but even today, approximately 88% of energy companies already struggle to hire talent for these positions. Adding to this challenge, companies in green industries often have a significant underrepresentation of women and people of color. With few options to directly address the green talent gap, companies and municipalities are desperately looking for turnkey, innovative solutions to solve their talent needs.
“The global climate transition is the greatest opportunity of our time, but we won’t achieve our net-zero goals without the talent to power it,” says Julius CEO Matthew Evans. “Julius takes an AI & data-led approach to create scalable solutions that help diverse talent start and grow green careers.”
In addition to bolstering Julius’ scale and impact, WGU Labs and Julius will conduct a comprehensive labor market analysis to pioneer a Workforce Readiness Index that will serve as a robust measure of the green talent economy. This index will help green industry workforce stakeholders assess talent availability and readiness in their regions, and inform workforce development strategies to promote green economic growth and transition. The index will also leverage skills taxonomies specific to the green talent marketplace and identify transfer pathways from traditional carbon-based sectors.
“Julius has tremendous potential to develop the talent pipeline necessary to drive the transition to a green economy in a manner that provides clear and equitable pathways to high quality green jobs,” says Brad Bernatek, managing director of the Accelerator at WGU Labs.
