Leave No One Behind: Prioritizing Labour Force Transition in the Fight for Net-Zero
Leave No One Behind: Prioritizing Labour Force Transition in the Fight for Net-Zero
by Sally Lin, Co-Director Research and Design, Climate Career Portal
Between 2015 and 2017, over 100,000 oil and gas workers lost their jobs in Canada due to the oil slump. These workers were not just recent graduates, but some were also decades into their careers. Colleagues, friends, and families were all impacted. The exhausting boom and bust cycles of the fossil fuel industry have proven that it does not provide long term job security, and this employment instability affects workers to this day. In fact, jobs in fossil fuels are expected to shrink 0.5% every year. Further, the urgency of the climate crisis is also felt by workers in the oil sands and they want to help address this challenge.
Iron & Earth, an Alberta-based worker-led organization whose mission is to empower the fossil fuel industry and Indigenous workers to build and implement climate solutions, ran a poll with Abacus Data. We heard directly from workers that over 69% are interested in a career in the net-zero economy. Some workers are motivated by concerns about climate, others by the need for more job stability.
At the same time, energy is becoming increasingly diversified in Canada and many fast growing sectors are in need of workers. In June 2021, the Canadian government announced a $964-million program on grid modernization and smart renewable energy through investments in clean energy technology, such as wind, solar, storage, hydro, geothermal and tidal. In 2022, major auto-manufacturer Stellantis partnered with LG Energy Solutions to invest over $5 billion CAD ($4.1 billion USD) into facilities to manufacture EV batteries in Windsor, Ontario. This project expects to bring 2,500 well-paying direct jobs and tens-of-thousands more along the supply chain. Efficiency Canada projects that by 2030, 309,000 construction workers will be needed to keep pace with the demand for building retrofits.
Labour force transition should not be an afterthought. To meet this demand and build Canada’s net-zero emissions future, we will need to make sure that skilled workers are trained, upskilled, and connected to relevant jobs. However, there is a lack of centralized information about climate careers in Canada, and even less exists for someone working in fossil fuels to navigate into climate solutions. Existing digital solutions are primarily job search platforms and carry little information about career transitions. New emerging platforms that tackle this problem in the US are Climatebase, which focuses on showing technology jobs, and Greenwork’s platform, which creates a space for employers, trades schools, and students to connect and apply for jobs.
Our workers have shared the desire for mentorship to gain a better understanding of the transferability of their skills and support for reskilling and upskilling training.That’s why we built the Climate Career Portal, a one-stop tool that directly helps workers in the fossil fuel industry understand how their current skills transfer to climate solutions such as wind, solar, EV charging, energy efficiency, and more. We used data from Canadian and US governments to create research that mapped fossil fuel skills to climate solutions in the net-zero economy. For example, a boilermaker could use the Climate Career Portal to type in their job and see how their skills are in demand for high job growth industries. Using this tool, they can discover a rapid upskilling program or a multi-year diploma, view energy projects across Canada, and find job openings near them.
Our next step is to build upon our research project to produce customized career pathways, showing how current skills can directly map to occupations in climate. We will do this by taking account of different transition archetypes, let us imagine a few:
Direct transition: "Jakob" is currently an industrial electrician and they become a solar electrician by getting a job with a solar company with little or no new credentialing.
Transition with some upskilling and training: "Samuel" is currently a plumber and pipefitter. With some short-term hands-on training, they can move to installing heating systems that use geothermal technology.
Occupation change: "Katie" is currently a welder and decides to make an occupational switch or to start their own company.
With a greater understanding of skills gaps between occupations, training providers and companies will be able to better design on-the-job training or longer term courses that meet these gaps. Workers are better able to plan their career transition, and the Climate Career Portal will be able to tailor recommendations for training, job openings, and better match them to mentorship support. In the future, the Climate Career Portal will also add resources for financial aid and for Indigenous communities.
Addressing skills gaps is no easy task, but at Iron & Earth we believe we need to do it together. We invite you to connect with us to explore collaboration. It’s time to move to a net-zero future, without leaving anyone behind.
Wins of the Week
Spotlighting our incredible MCJ community members.
😎 @Dave Finocchio and @Anna Robertson met in MCJ and recently launched The Cool Down, a hub for climate optimism and cool people.
👏 @Jennifer Anderson started at Charm Industrial as a geologist, transitioning from Oil and Gas.
🌎 S/O to our friends at Collaborative Fund on the launch of their SOS Fund, a new $200M climate fund, investing in Series A-B companies across materials, ingredients, energy, and supply chains.
✍️ The Draw-down
Get ready for the next Climate Art Workshop on 7/26 with MCJ Artist-In-Residence, Nicole Kelner. This month’s theme is Plastic Free July. RSVP here.
📍 Get Local
This week’s local climate issue of note, brought to you by Climate Cabinet.
Federal-state partnerships are moving climate action forward! Working with states, the Biden administration recently announced the Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership, an initiative to increase American offshore wind capacity from its current 42 megawatts to 30,000 megawatts by 2030. This initiative seeks to expedite the permitting process and support building critical infrastructure and securing supply chains for offshore wind. There are 11 states on the Eastern seaboard currently included in this partnership. You can help strengthen state action on climate by supporting pro-climate leaders at ClimateSlate.com.
🎙My Climate Journey Podcast
✊🏾✊🏿✊✊🏽 Jason spoke with Kerry Bowie from Browning the Green Space about how underrepresented or excluded groups bear the brunt of climate impacts, and how workforce development can improve participation in the coming wave of climate innovation.
🌊 Cody caught up with Marcus Lehmann from CalWave about the potential of wave energy, challenges to operating in complex marine environments, the company’s roadmap for getting to market, plus how wave power and offshore wind power can be combined in the future.
✨ Highlights
The MCJ community continues to show up & connect on climate topics. We 💙 to see it!
👩💻 Climate Jobs
For more open positions, check out the #j-climatejobs channel in MCJ Slack as well as past newsletters.
Arcadia is looking for a Senior Product Manager to help scale their community solar business. (Remote/US)
Artyc is seeking a Web and Mobile Software Engineer to join their efforts in decarbonizing cold chain logistics. (Remote)
Cloverly is hiring a Head of Engineering for their fast-growing carbon removal marketplace. (Remote, US/Canada)
Conduit Tech is hiring their first Development Engineer to help with their residential HVAC sensor-enabled data platform. (Boston)
David Energy is prioritizing their Front-End Engineer role to ensure their software provides customers with greater energy transparency and control while creating a cheaper, cleaner, more reliable electricity grid. (Remote/NY)
Deep Science Ventures is looking for future founders in carbon neutral/negative transport. (London, UK)
Down Ballot Climate Project is seeking an Elections Analyst to join their political startup. (Remote/US)
Elemental Excelerator has an open Communications Lead position to help their nonprofit VC scale and invest in climate startups. (Remote)
Patch is hiring a Strategic Finance Lead to join their carbon removal efforts. (Remote/San Francisco)
Spark Climate Solutions is looking for a Chief of Staff to join their non-profit that’s focused on building emerging climate fields. (Remote/US)
👉 Events
For more climate events, check out the #c-events channel in MCJ Slack.
MCJ #G-Africa Virtual Meetup (7/18)
Angel Investing 101 with Climate Avengers (7/19)
Philly Climate Meetup (7/20)
What is (climate) growth equity and why should I be excited about it by Carbon Equity (7/21)
Barriers to Working In Climate Webinar by Climate People (7/26)
Early Project Finance for Carbon Removal by AirMiners (7/26)
MCJ Vancouver Meetup (7/27)
How to Get Started With ESG: Startups, VCs & Newly Public Companies by Green Buoy Consulting (7/28)
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