PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island and seven other Northeast states will undertake a study of “green jobs” in the region thanks to a $4 million research grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.

An eight-state Northeast Research Consortium will use labor-market data to assess the energy-efficiency and renewable-energy sectors and to identify occupations and skill requirements within those industries.

The consortium, led by Vermont, will work with the R.I. Department of Labor and Training on the 18-month study, Amy Kempe, a spokeswoman for Gov. Donald Carcieri, told Providence Business News.

The funding, which comes from the economic stimulus law enacted in February, was announced last week by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

“If we get our act together as a nation and start addressing the major environmental problems of our time – global warming and our dependence on fossil fuels – we can create millions of good paying jobs,” Sanders, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Green Jobs and the New Economy, said in a statement.

“In other words,” he added, “good environmental policy is good economic policy.”

U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis last week announced a total of $55 million in green-jobs grants to support job training and labor-market research nationwide.

Solis said the grants demonstrate “the [Obama] administration’s long-term commitment to fostering both immediate economic growth and a clean energy future.”