Delivers on Senator Markey’s “Civilian Climate Corps for Jobs and Justice Act” legislation

Senator Markey and young people at Prince William Forest Park, Virginia for Earth Day launch of American Climate Corps

Washington (April 22, 2024) — Senator Edward J. Markey, chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety and co-author of the Green New Deal resolution, joined President Joe Biden and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) in Prince William Forest Park in Virginia – a national park system site developed by FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps – to celebrate the American Climate Corps. Today’s announcement also included the launch of the new ClimateCorps.gov website and recognized the momentum towards a Green New Deal future focused on creating union jobs, centering environmental justice, and reducing emissions. 

At the event with President Biden today, Senator Markey said, “We will make sure our American Climate Corps is ambitious, just, and unapologetically pro-union. That it’s done by and for those who have been locked out and left behind in the past, especially Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities. And that our Climate Corps members tackle thousands of projects with one shared purpose – to build a world worth saving. We’ll need all three of our Green New Deal principles: union jobs, environmental justice, and climate action...The American Climate Corps members we salute, celebrate, and call to action today showcase the best of those principles. Generosity, not greed. Excellence, not exploitation. Hope, not hate... Thank you, President Biden, for this opportunity. And thank you to all the present and future American Climate Corpsmembers for showing up in solidarity, and in service.”

Based on Senator Markey and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's Civilian Climate Corps for Jobs and Justice Act, the new American Climate Corps will mobilize and train a diverse generation of 20,000 service members for the clean energy and climate resilience economy. In September 2023, the lawmakers led 49 of their colleagues in a letter to President Biden in support of executive action to establish a federally-coordinated Civilian Climate Corps initiative. Following this outreach, the administration launched the new American Climate Corps.

The Biden administration today launched ClimateCorps.gov, where young people can learn more about positions with the American Climate Corps. Additionally, the Biden administration announced $7 billion in grants through the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Solar for All” grant competition, a key component of the Inflation Reduction Act’s $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which Senator Markey secured in the historic law. Senator Markey’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is the the single largest climate investment in the Inflation Reduction Act.

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