Princeton’s Net Zero America study lays out what it would take “to achieve an economy-wide target of net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050,” and it involves a lot of work: expanding the transmission grid between two and five times, retrofitting the steel industry for electric arc furnaces and hydrogen fuel, building 250 large nuclear reactors, and vast utility-scale solar and wind projects, among other things. The scale of industrial construction envisioned here is enormous. And even if only part of it comes to fruition, it would mean some degree of reshoring and reindustrialization, and the creation of hundreds of thousands of blue-collar jobs.

But what will this reindustrializing process look like for working people? Construction and manufacturing work is much more precarious than it used to be. And as historically favorable as goods production is to union growth, there are no guarantees that the return to industry will be a net positive for workers. One thing we do know, given the decades of stagnation and unwillingness by the private sector to invest in a green transition, is that governments will have to drive this process. This is no doubt a frightening prospect, given the government’s outsourcing of key capacities and general commitment to what economist Daniela Gabor has called the “Wall Street Consensus.” But if we’ve got a shot here, the state must play the key role.

The challenges of ensuring a just transition for workers as we reindustrialize and decarbonize the economy are daunting. But innovative organizers are showing us potential paths forward. One group that has been at the forefront of reimagining how government procurement can be leveraged to benefit workers is Jobs to Move America (JMA).