The clean energy industry is among the fastest-growing sectors of our economy, offering good-paying jobs all over the country that provide benefits and opportunities for union membership. Building a diverse clean energy workforce would not only give Americans of all backgrounds an opportunity to build generational wealth — it’ll give our planet a fighting chance.

To reach President Joe Biden’s ambitious goals to cut carbon pollution in half by the end of the decade and build a 100% clean power grid by 2035, we need to harness all of America’s talent. But there’s a problem: Black Americans are underrepresented in the clean energy industry. They make up 11% of the overall workforce, but just 8% of renewable energy jobs and only 9% of jobs in science, technology, engineering and math. Earlier in the pipeline, it’s a similar picture: Historically, just 1.6% of Department of Energy grants to higher education have gone to historically black colleges and universities, even though these institutions make up 2.7% of U.S. postsecondary schools.

President Biden and I know we have to change that.