Fall 2019

Brookfield Institute report raises questions about the implications of four environmental trends on the labour market

Yasmin Rajabi and Erin Warner

The floods and tornado that hit Ottawa this past spring have cost the city $5.6 million and counting in damages (Chianello, 2019). Similar instances of climate change have devastated communities across Canada and will continue to do so as the climate crisis accelerates. In fact, the Insurance Bureau of Canada reported that the cost of insured damage due to severe weather was $1.8-billion last year, with other recent years as high as $4.9 billion (Scoffield, 2019). There is an urgent need for Canadians to anticipate and prepare for the shocks and stresses of a future affected by the changing climate – and to consider what can be done to mitigate the current course.

To help Canadians prepare for this future, and more specifically their future employment, the Brookfield Institute’s report Turn and Face the Strange identifies 31 trends with the potential to affect the labour market in the next 10-15 years (Thornton, Russek & O’Neil, 2019). This report is part of the Institute’s ongoing initiative, Employment in 2030, a national research project to develop a holistic forecast of in-demand skills, and the distribution of these skills across geographies, industries and demographic groups.

While Turn and Face the Strange is not a prediction of the future or a deep analysis of any one trend, it aims to spark exploratory and imaginative thinking and push readers to ask themselves “what if?” What if Canada sees a rise in wildfires, floods and mudslides? What if cases of mental-health issues associated with technology use continue to multiply? What if artificial intelligence (AI) becomes capable of performing creative tasks?

Key trends

The trends highlighted in the report were identified using a strategic foresight methodology called horizon scanning – a technique for gathering broad, emerging information in order to identify possible changes affecting a topic of study. We scanned academic journals, popular media and fringe news sources, unearthing more than 600 signals of change, which we synthesized into 31 trends that have the potential to affect the future of employment.

While many of us are well aware that technological change will continue to affect labour markets, it is also important to consider how broader environmental, social and political developments play a role. Environmental sustainability, in particular, is an area that we can no longer afford to ignore. To this end, we were able to identify four trends related to the environment that may have an impact on the future of work in Canada. As you read through each below, consider how these trends may affect your future job prospects or those of your clients.

Resource scarcity

As the climate crisis worsens, natural resources like clean air, water and sand could become scarce and therefore extremely valuable. According to the World Wildlife Fund (n.d.), by 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population may face water shortages. Resource scarcity across Canada and globally will affect industries that rely heavily on natural resources, such as energy, forestry and mining. Water-reliant sectors such as agriculture, food processing and manufacturing could struggle to maintain access to these resources. How will these industries develop new practices to conserve resources like paper and water? How will our policies and infrastructure change to adapt to water scarcity and air pollution? Will new, energy-efficient industries grow or develop in response to resource scarcity? How will we alter our habits to consume less?

Wildfires, flooding and mudslides

In August 2018, British Columbia declared a state of emergency as a result of 559 forest fires that burned across the province (Johnston, 2018). All over Canada we are experiencing similar instances of wildfires, flooding and mudslides due to a rise in extreme weather conditions. The tourism industry may be affected should these natural disasters become more common. How will other industries that Canada is so well known for, such as forestry, mining and agriculture, be hurt? Will others benefit from these unfortunate incidents, such as infrastructure or goods and services that monitor or prevent floods and wildfires? What will the impact be on economic activity in regions more susceptible to climate disasters?

Climate refugees

As climate change continues to take a toll on the places we live, millions of people will be displaced globally. While the current legal definition of refugees in Canada does not include provisions for climate-related displacement, we need to start considering how we will respond to this global issue. How might people from regions that have been devastated by climate change use their first-hand experience to help respond to the international demand for solutions? Would a new source of talent reduce the cost of labour in certain sectors? How will the government and other bodies react to an increase in demand for settlement services?

Alternative energy

The demand for energy is only growing as technology permeates every aspect of our lives, from the trains we take to work to the smartphones that never seem to leave our hands. In 2016, Canadian companies spent $18.1 billion on in-house energy research and development (Statistics Canada, 2018). There has been a focus on generating energy that is clean, efficient, renewable and affordable. How will this affect the traditional, resource-based energy sector? If significant strides are made toward clean, inexpensive energy, more companies could invest in AI, tech systems and increased computational power. How might this affect demand for skilled workers to operate alongside these new technologies?

As author Roger L. Martin and professor Alison Kemper write, the climate crisis will no doubt require both restraint and innovation (Martin & Kemper, 2012). Restraint, as we adapt our behaviour to try to limit further damage. Innovation, as we work to develop new technology to fix what we have done and to help us find a new way forward. In this way, with the devastation of climate change also comes an opportunity for new advancements. When reflecting on what climate change will mean for the Canadian labour market, career practitioners should consider: What kinds of new companies will arise in its wake? What new solutions will be developed? Where are gaps likely to emerge in the near future and how can we take advantage of these opportunities? We urge you to explore how these four environmental sustainability trends will affect the future of work in Canada and consider what careers may change or emerge as a result.

Illustrations by Jesseca Buizon. Buizon is a Toronto-based illustrator and graduate of OCAD University’s illustration program. She creates her illustrations by merging traditional and digital mediums.

Yasmin Rajabi is a Project Officer at the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship, where she experiments with novel research methods to advance actionable innovation policy in Canada. Rajabi has an Honours BA in Public Policy and City Studies from the University of Toronto.

Erin Warner is a Marketing and Communications Specialist at the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship who is dedicated to making ideas and information easily accessible to a wide audience. She holds an MBA in technology and innovation from Ryerson’s Ted Rogers School of Management and an Honours BA in anthropology from Western University. 

References

Chianello, J. (2019, June 26). Flood and tornado have cost city $5.6M — and counting. CBC. Retrieved from cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/flood-and-tornado-have-cost-city-5-6m-and-counting-1.5191498

Johnston, P. (2018, August 26). B.C. Wildfires 2018: State of emergency declared across province as 559 fires burn. Vancouver Sun. Retrieved from vancouversun.com/news/local-news/b-c-wildfires-2018-state-of-emergency-declared-across-province-as-566-fires-burn

Martin, R. L., & Kemper, A. (2012, April). Saving the Planet: A Tale of Two Strategies. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from hbr.org/2012/04/saving-the-planet-a-tale-of-two-strategies

Scoffield, H. (2019, April 23). Flooding costs are rising like Canada’s rivers. The Toronto Star. Retrieved from thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2019/04/23/flooding-costs-are-rising-like-canadas-rivers.html

Statistics Canada (2018). Energy research and development expenditures by area of technology, 2016. Retrieved from www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/daily-quotidien/180828/dq180828b-eng.pdf?st=A85eCpkp

Thornton, J., Russek, H., & O’Neil, T. (2019). Turn and Face the Strange: Changes impacting the future of employment in Canada. The Brookfield Institute. Retrieved from brookfieldinstitute.ca/report/turn-and-face-the-strange-changes-impacting-the-future-of-employment-in-canada/

Helping young people think critically about how employment and the environment intersect can shift their sense of fear to a feeling of empowerment

Stefania Maggi

Our coastlines are being redefined, forests and grasslands destroyed, homes, schools and critical infrastructure damaged. Livelihoods are endangered, our way of life is challenged and our traditions threatened. This is climate change transforming the world as we know it.

At the same time, children suffer from a wide range of mental-health problems. Young people are struggling to find their place in a world with such an uncertain future. They feel powerless in the face of the climate change giant, which they know they must fight, but feel is too big to be defeated. They feel vulnerable, ill-equipped and under pressure. This is not the doing of climate change. This is our own doing.

Our greatest resource in battling climate change

We do this to our children because we fail to see their resilience and their limitless potential. We marginalize them to the fringes of decision-making by stripping them of their greatest assets: their propensity for big dreams, their innate ability to think outside of the box and their calling to take on any challenge, the bigger the better.

We don’t honour and nurture young people for what they have to offer to the collective well-being, to the future of our planet. Our children are the greatest resource we have to make things right for the health of this planet and all of its inhabitants. Now is the time to enable and empower them to take charge of their own futures for the good of all living beings.

Career and leadership development could be the answer in preparing the workforce of tomorrow to take on and beat this tremendous challenge by shifting the sense of fear and hopelessness to one of empowerment and purpose. Enough with messages of despair that paralyze us. Let’s do what we do best as educators and career coaches. Let’s equip young people to find their purpose and help make this planet healthier through career and leadership guidance and education.

Thinking critically about jobs and the environment

This is the spirit that motivated me to create the 100 Jobs Challenge! a program designed to promote early career and leadership development and climate change awareness.

The program challenges participants (a group of 15-20 young people between the ages of 12 and 18) to identify 100 present and future jobs they believe can help us mitigate and adapt to climate change. Then, they work backward to determine the skills/education required to secure these roles. Facilitators provide youth participants with context and guidance, encouraging youth to reflect more deeply on the contribution of their career of choice to the collective well-being. However, youth take the lead in the process of seeking information, thinking critically and identifying relevant results throughout the five-day workshop.

The purpose of the 100 Jobs Challenge! is to prepare the workforce of tomorrow to think more deeply and critically about jobs and the environment. It aims to increase knowledge, awareness and competence about how each career choice one makes can play a direct or indirect role in restoring the health of this planet. The program also aims to promote the development of socio-emotional skills, resilience and social responsibility in youth in the early stages of their career and leadership development.

The 100 Jobs Challenge

Who: Young people 12 years of age and older. Groups can be of mixed ages to facilitate mutual socio-emotional learning and leadership skills.

When: Originally developed to fit the format of summer camps and winter breaks, the 100JC can be adapted into after-school programs, weekend retreats and other kinds of events.

Where: Anywhere participants can both collaborate and spend time by themselves to complete individual activities. Participants should have access to internet and be able to conduct research online individually or in small groups.

How: The 100JC is co-ordinated by three certified trainers: a lead facilitator and two youth facilitators.

A unique approach

This approach stands out from mainstream approaches to career and leadership development in several ways.

• It is timely, relevant and interdisciplinary. Because the program is embedded in the context of a real-life problem, participants feel that what they are learning is relevant to their lives. Also, rather than focusing on specific disciplines that may not be of interest to all participants, the activity challenges students to identify present and future jobs related to the theme and then work backward to determine the skills/education required.
• It promotes self-directed learning and problem-solving. Facilitators provide youth participants with context and guidance, but youth take the lead in seeking information, thinking critically and identifying relevant results. The target of identifying 100 jobs, 20 of which have to be “invented” for the future, motivates participants to engage in problem-solving without the fear of being “wrong.” Youth can follow their curiosity and identify careers that interest them personally. This encourages entrepreneurial skills-building and out-of-the-box approaches to career and leadership development.
• It fosters a culture of collaboration. The format of the program is highly interactive, with many opportunities for youth to work together and discuss in groups. The facilitators act as partners in learning rather than traditional teachers and create an environment of collaboration and mutual respect where diverse perspectives are valued. This format allows for practising key foundational pre-employment and employment skills such as the ability to work in teams and respect for diversity and inclusion.
• It is reflective. Throughout the program, there are opportunities for young people to pause and reflect deeply on their interests, inclinations, strengths, aspirations and goals. These deliberate moments are designed to give participants a chance to practice and consolidate important pre-employment and employment socio-emotional skills such as self-efficacy, self-awareness, independence and self-reflection.
• It is evergreen. Unlike many career resources that are in constant need of updating, the 100 Jobs Challenge! provides a guided process for youth to identify current jobs and skills requirements. Furthermore, it challenges youth to be forward-looking and imagine certain jobs/careers that may emerge in the future, helping them to realize the importance of life-long learning for the changing world of work.
• It integrates technology and multimedia approaches. During the workshops, youth learn research skills using the internet and other available sources of information. They can also stay connected with facilitators and their program peers via social media during and after the program. The use of technology and multimedia strategies to facilitate learning enhances best practices in pedagogical science while keeping the learner engaged.

Read more about children and youth’s career development on CERIC’s CareerWise website

To put youth on path to well-being, we need to talk to them about careers
Three people your student should meet before graduating high school
5 ways to talk with young children about work and careers

Skills to succeed in the future of work

In my experience working with youth, I have come to understand how fundamental it is for an impactful career-coaching program to address developmental needs first and foremost. Career professionals working with youth need to have space and time built into their services to support the development of pre-employment skills that are so critical to a successful life-long career trajectory. A career professional is successful when they know that their young clients have learned to search within themselves, as opposed to in a list of job descriptions and salary scales, to discover their career aspirations.

In other words, the focus of career services for young people should be less on matching interests to specific job titles and more on the acquisition and consolidation of pre-employability skills – that is, socio-emotional skills – which young people can carry with them from one job to the next and use to adapt to the rapid changes of today’s world of work. It is up to the career professional to adjust their programs and services to meet the socio-emotional needs of their clients and to offer opportunity for growth and positive development.

The Organization for Economic and Co-operation Development report on socio-emotional skills and career development (Chernyshenko, Kankaraš & Drasgow, 2018) is an excellent resource providing the knowledge base for career guidance and coaches working with youth who want to integrate key socio-emotional learning in their programs.

In the end, it doesn’t matter what careers our students choose. What matters is what they know about the impact that their careers can have, one way or another, on the health of our planet. What matters is how that knowledge will influence their actions in their personal and professional lives. The choice remains theirs to make, and it should not be any other way.

Stefania Maggi is the Founder & CEO of Be Your Best Self, Inc. (BYBS), a social enterprise created to empower young people to build their future with purpose, self-awareness, resilience and social responsibility. Maggi is also a university professor, researcher, child rights advocate and sci-fi author.

References

Chernyshenko, O.S., Kankaraš, M., & Drasgow, F. (2018) Social and emotional skills for student success and wellbeing: conceptual framework for the OECD study on social and emotional skills. OECD Education Working Paper No. 173.

Changing practices and consumer preferences are expected to have a disruptive effect on employment

Laxmi Prasad Pant

Canada has joined a bid among developed countries to become a leader in fighting climate change while protecting jobs. The government adopted the Solidarity and Just Transition Silesia Declaration in 2018, which emphasizes the importance of decent work in the shift toward climate-resilient economies. The Canadian House of Commons declared a national climate emergency on June 17, 2019.

Translating these commitments into economic prosperity and decent jobs within food and agriculture is a challenging process. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently released a Special Report on Climate Change and Land, to which this author has also contributed, with a new estimate that livestock, crop, fertilizer and fossil fuel use in agriculture account for about 21-37% of global GHG emissions (IPCC, 2019).

In Canada, the food and agriculture sector produces over 10% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is responsible for one in eight jobs, employing over 2.3 million people (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2016, 2019). This sector is also the largest employer in the world, and it will grow further to feed the 10 billion people expected to inhabit the planet by 2050 (United Nations, 2017). This growth will have to be low-carbon in order to meet GHG emission-reduction targets.

Climate change exacerbates labour market challenges

The effects of climate change on food and agricultural jobs should be considered within the context of the already deteriorating labour market. Canadian rural communities are on the decline, and the food and agriculture sector has already faced labour market shortages. The most notable changes are youth out-migration, aging population, population decline and closing down of social services.

According to the 2016 Census of Agriculture (Statistics Canada, 2017), the number of farms has been decreasing in Canada; the family farm is declining at a faster rate. Canada has the second-lowest proportion of family farmers after New Zealand (Graeub et al., 2016).

“Canadian rural communities are on the decline, and the food and agriculture sector has already faced labour market shortages.”

The Conference Board of Canada, in its 2016 report, estimated that labour shortages within the agriculture sector have doubled over the past decade (Meyer-Robinson & Burt, 2016). Shortages are expected to increase two-fold again in the next 10 years, reaching 113,800 people. In a positive framing of the labour shortages, Ontario Agricultural College’s Planning for Tomorrow 2.0 report estimates that four jobs are available for each graduate in food and agriculture (Synthesis Agri-Food Network, 2017).

Quality of the available jobs is equally important regarding social stigma, occupational health and workplace safety. Food and agricultural careers in Ontario’s Perth County suffer from social stigma, particularly those jobs that do not necessarily require post-secondary education (DEEP Centre, 2015).

According to a recent International Labour Organization report (Montt et al., 2018), climate change affects the quality of jobs that rely on ecosystem services, including employment in agriculture, fisheries, forestry and tourism. The risks and hazards associated with climate change affect vulnerable farm workers the most, including women, migrant workers, people in poverty, Indigenous people and persons with disabilities.

Climate change not always bad for the local economy and jobs

Climate change may also have some positive implications for agricultural workers. In temperate countries like Canada, global warming can open up more areas for farming (Cui, Hao David et al., 2018). For instance, the West Kootenay region in British Columbia will experience a longer growing season, hotter summers and more frost-free days (Roussin et al., 2015). This should increase the region’s capacity to grow food. However, scorching summers can cause drought, which might require additional water for irrigation, food processing and municipal use.

Career planners in food and agriculture should recognize that agriculture is both a source of GHGs as well as a sink where crops and soils can capture and store carbon. One way to make food and agricultural systems low-carbon and climate-resilient is to promote agroecology, which is using science, practice and social movements to bring incremental and transformational changes in industrial agriculture (Gliessman, 2018). For instance, such changes include minimum or zero tillage that has increased carbon capture and storage in soils, most notably in canola, soybean, field pea and wheat in the Canadian Prairies.

While incremental changes are compatible with the incumbent practices, transformational changes can be essentially disruptive. The largest share of GHG in Canadian agriculture comes from livestock (5%) followed by crops (3%) and fossil fuel use (2%). Hence, Canada’s Food Guide recommends eating more plant-based protein sources, which has been applauded as a step forward to reduce our carbon footprint (Health Canada, 2019). A recent IPCC report (2019) also recommends eating less meat, which requires transformational changes in our habits and practices. This transition could disrupt the incumbent labour market, particularly for those working in the carbon-intensive beef cattle, dairy cattle and eggs industries.

The Food Policy for Canada aims to address these challenges by supporting agricultural systems that are low-carbon, climate-resilient, less wasteful, and supportive of the local economies and jobs (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2019). A transition to agroecological farming would help fulfill this mandate. This would eliminate carbon-intensive jobs in the industrial farming sector while creating carbon-friendly jobs that require a new set of skills, such as intercropping, crop rotation, cover crops, integrating trees and small animals back into farming. Agroecological farming could also improve occupational health and safety and provide opportunity to learn new skills, experience self-fulfillment and exercise human ingenuity (Timmermann & Félix, 2015).

In agroecological systems, incumbent workers and aspiring jobseekers will have to unlearn old skills and learn new skills, such as how to control weeds, insect pests and diseases without using harmful chemicals. We are heading to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and advanced technologies – physical, digital and biological technologies – are prominent in food and agriculture as well (Pant, 2019). These technologies can reduce the food and agriculture sector’s carbon footprint through input use efficiency, but policymakers should also recognize anxieties, including unprecedented job losses to automation and robotics (Rotz et al., 2019).

A call for action

How climate change, and subsequent mitigation and adaptation, will affect local economies and employment in food and agriculture is poorly understood. This ambiguity is only expected to grow in the future. For instance, the declaration of a climate emergency could lead to resource mobilization; it could also create a sense of insecurity and fear among children, vulnerable workers, family farmers and aspiring jobseekers. Career counsellors, educators, leaders and policymakers should consider this reality while preparing the next generation of the workforce in this sector.

We need to make the food and agriculture profession more respected in a changing climate, regardless of whether or not a job requires post-secondary education. Advancements in physical, digital and biological technologies can make us climate-smart while advancing the profile of the industry. However, lack of access to advanced technologies as a result of the digital divide across social classes and geographic regions can create inequalities among already vulnerable agricultural workers (Rotz et al., 2019; Pant & Hambly-Odame, 2017). Career counsellors should be aware that new opportunities from technological advancements come with challenges to train younger farmers and aspiring jobseekers in advanced and highly technical skills as well as social and interpersonal skills.

Dr Laxmi Prasad Pant is an Adjunct Professor and Associated Graduate Faculty at the University of Guelph. He conducts research on regional and rural innovation, agroecology, citizen science, sustainability transitions, ethics of new and emerging technologies, pedagogy and the practice of teaching controversial topics. His research has appeared in Agriculture and Human Values, Journal of Rural Studies, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Regional Environmental Change, Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, and The Conversation, among other publications.

References

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (2016). An Overview of the Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food System 2016. Retrieved from agr.gc.ca/eng/about-us/publications/economic-publications/an-overview-of-the-canadian-agriculture-and-agri-food-system-2016/?id=1462288050282

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (2019, June 17). Food Policy for Canada. Retrieved from canada.ca/en/agriculture-agri-food/news/2019/06/everyone-at-the-table-government-of-canada-announces-the-first-ever-food-policy-for-canada.html

Cui, Hao David et al. (2018). Climate change and global market integration: Implications for global economic activities, agricultural commodities and food security. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved from fao.org/3/CA2332EN/ca2332en.pdf.

DEEP Centre (2015). Opportunity 2020: Transforming the Labour Market in Perth County, Stratford and St. Marys. Retrieved from perthcounty.ca/en/doing-business/resources/files/LM_2020Report_Final.pdf

Gliessman, S. (2018). Defining Agroecology. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 42(6), 599-600.

Graeub et al. (2016). The State of Family Farms in the World. World Development, 87, 1–15.

Health Canada (2019). Canada’s Food Guide. Retrieved from food-guide.canada.ca/static/assets/pdf/CFG-snapshot-EN.pdf

IPCC (2019). Climate Change and Land. Retrieved from ipcc.ch/srccl-report-download-page/

Meyer-Robinson, R., & Burt, M. (2016). Sowing the Seeds of Growth. Temporary Foreign Workers in Agriculture. The Conference Board of Canada. Retrieved from conferenceboard.ca/e-library/abstract.aspx?did=8363

Montt, G., Fraga, F. and Harsdorff, M. (2018). The future of work in a changing natural environment: Climate change, degradation and sustainability. International Labour Organization. Retrieved from ilo.org/global/topics/future-of-work/publications/research-papers/WCMS_644145/lang–en/index.htm

Pant, L. (2019, May 2). Addressing food insecurity in the digital age. The Conversation. Retrieved from theconversation.com/addressing-food-insecurity-in-the-digital-age-112501

Pant, L. P., & Hambly-Odame, H. (2017). Broadband for a sustainable digital future of rural communities: A reflexive interactive assessment. Journal of Rural Studies, 54, 435-450.

Rotz, S., et al. (2019). Automated pastures and the digital divide: How agricultural technologies are shaping labour and rural communities. Journal of Rural Studies, 68, 112-122.

Roussin, R., Wilson, J. E., Utzig, G. & Lavkulich, L. M. (2015). Assessing the potential for pocket agriculture in mountainous regions: A case study in West Kootenay, British Columbia, Canada. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 6(1), 175-188.

Statistics Canada (2017). 2016 Census of Agriculture. Retrieved from statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/170510/dq170510a-eng.htm

Synthesis Agri-Food Network (2017). Planning for Tomorrow 2.0. Ontario Agricultural College. Retrieved from uoguelph.ca/oac/about/planning-tomorrow-20-report

Timmermann, C., & Félix, G. F. (2015). Agroecology as a vehicle for contributive justice. Agriculture and Human Values, 32, 523-538.

United Nations (2017, June 21). World population projected to reach 9.8 billion in 2050, and 11.2 billion in 2100. Retrieved from un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/world-population-prospects-2017.html

The consequences of a warming planet will create opportunities in ‘green’ jobs while also putting new demands on environmental protection workers

Melissa Drury and Paul Richard

Climate change will have important impacts on society, including the workplace. Environmental professions will be both negatively and positively affected in ways that are unique to this field, as well as by trends that will affect the workplace in general.

That the labour market will change is clear. According to a recent International Labour Organization report (2019), climate change will put up to 80 million jobs at risk by 2030, particularly in agriculture and construction, but also in the transportation, tourism, sports and industrial sectors. Despite being a northern country, Canada is not immune; the ILO report estimates the equivalent of a loss of 800 full-time jobs from heat stress alone. Temperature extremes will make outdoor work difficult or impossible, while consequences of climate change such as more frequent flooding or fires will also indirectly affect employment.

“According to a recent International Labour Organization report, climate change will put up to 80 million jobs at risk by 2030.”

Conversely, the authors of an International Labour Review article about mitigation of climate impacts argue that “climate action is an opportunity to create over 24 million jobs across the world. To maximize the employment opportunities, governments need to complement climate action with a conducive legal framework, consultation process of society, social protection, skills and industrial policy to enable a just transition” (Montt et al., 2018).

Not all these future jobs are expected to be of an environmental nature, of course, but the environmental profession – the “green” jobs – will be well represented.

Present and future opportunities in green jobs

Climate change is tackled by decarbonizing the economy and by sequestering carbon. Green jobs act directly on these objectives: installers of solar panels, windmills, efficient windows or electric charging stations; designers of efficient vehicles, public transit, industrial processes; energy auditors and sustainability planners are examples among the many trades and professions that contribute to reducing emissions. Land-use managers and conservation professionals may create programs that build biomass and sequester carbon, such as planting and caring for tree and kelp forests; engineers who design high-tech systems for atmospheric carbon dioxide removal are also working toward the same objective: reducing atmospheric carbon.

Sharan Burrow (2015), General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, says that jobs are already being created from investments in climate action: “In renewable energy, the US solar industry is creating jobs 20 times faster than the overall economy, while the world’s largest renewable energy job market is in China, with 3.4 million working in the industry. In Germany, 370,000 people are employed in renewable energy, the largest number in Europe.”

In Canada, employment opportunities in green jobs have been steady (ECO Canada, 2012) or, more recently, growing (ECO Canada, 2018, 2019). In its latest reports, ECO Canada identified the sectors with the highest demand as natural resources management, environmental health and safety, and waste management. Their 2012 report used a different but overlapping classification that listed environmental protection, resource conservation and green energy as the sectors most in demand.

Our own experience shows that a large number of environmental protection positions (a subset of green jobs) are not advertised in the media surveyed by ECO Canada. This suggests such surveys may underestimate the actual number of green jobs in the Canadian economy.

Likewise, TopResume (n.d.), a career agency, has similar findings based on US data about the most in-demand green jobs:

• environmental scientists;
• green building professionals;
• solar, water and environmental engineers;
• environmental protection scientists and technicians;
• corporate sustainability professionals

Environmental awareness led to the creation of these jobs and industries. Will climate change affect this distribution or the nature of these jobs?

Influences on employment in environmental careers

Government policy

The answer to this question depends largely on the evolution of policy. Renewable energy jobs in Germany were created by a 1990 policy decision, then the unexpected number of solar panel installers, wind mechanics and smart grids experts became large enough to insulate the profession from changing political winds. A similar set of policies across Canada would likewise create many green energy and energy-efficiency jobs, tilting the balance away from the more traditional environmental protection sector.

Severe weather

The environmental protection sector is also likely to grow as a result of climate change and the resulting severe weather. Significant droughts, for instance, adversely affect biosystems, from fisheries to natural parks, and measures to alleviate impacts will rely on data provided by environmental protection scientists and technicians.

Storms, expected to be more frequent and more severe, will also affect environmental protection practitioners. Erosion-control professionals implement measures to prevent sediment from construction sites from entering fish-bearing streams; frequent severe cloudbursts may require the development of new regulations and best practices. Large-scale flooding, as has happened this decade in Calgary, Toronto and Montreal (twice), increases the risk of contamination from mold and sewage, and exacerbates problems of contaminated sites remediation (in our observation, still a leading employment sector for environmental protection practitioners). Municipal flood-prevention programs – including those using green infrastructure – will result in increased employment opportunities, from construction monitoring to land-use planning.

Large-scale wildfires such as those recently experienced in British Columbia, Alberta and California not only produce very poor air quality, but also contaminate water resources. Once fires are under control, a huge task of environmental monitoring remains, and this will become more frequent as the climate changes.

Finally, it must be mentioned that weather extremes will put new demands on environmental protection practitioners. Field work, a large component of the job, is more physically demanding during heat waves or storms, adding to the dangers of gathering samples in tinder-dry environments or stormy lakes. Further, these environmental stressors also add to the risk of workplace mistakes. Accidental spills, for instance, require rapid action from first responders, including those trained in containing spills, reclaiming affected lands and monitoring for toxic substances.

A collective response

Climate change will likely create many opportunities for environmental practitioners, both in traditional fields such as environmental monitoring and in newer fields such as energy auditing. While this may seem to be good news at first glance, the prospect of increased employment in this sector is contingent on a well-functioning economy and governance system that can respond effectively to the challenge of climate change. This challenge is immense and requires a response from environmental professionals of all kinds.

Melissa Drury is the Co-operative Education Co-ordinator and Paul Richard is the Chair of the Environmental Protection Technology Program, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, in Greater Vancouver.

References

Burrow, Sharan (2015) “How will climate change affect jobs?” World Economic Forum. Retrieved from weforum.org/agenda/2015/12/how-will-climate-change-affect-jobs/

ECO Canada (2019). Environmental Job Market Trends in 2018. Retrieved from eco.ca/research/report/environmental-job-market-trends-2018/

ECO Canada (2018). Environmental Job Market Trends Mid-2018. Retrieved from eco.ca/wp-content/uploads/ECO-Canada-Environmental-Job-Posting-Trends-Mid-2018.pdf

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What early career professionals with interests in sustainability work need to know about the industry and overcoming barriers to entry

Eric Meliton  

When I reflect on my career of more than 17 years in the sustainability sector, I realize I have made some unusual choices. I have changed my pathway at four distinct milestones of my career, from a precious metals chemist, to a narcotics drug distributor, to a water industry analyst, to a sustainability program manager. I have picked up many career strategies along the way that I am happy to share with anyone who will listen – especially those aspiring to join the sustainability sector.

Serving as a mentor to early career sustainability professionals over the past five years, I have worked to provide a reassuring perspective that being uncertain about one’s career path is not necessarily a bad thing. Whether you are working with a young professional seeking to move up the sustainability industry ladder, a newcomer navigating the competitive landscape in the environmental sector or a recent graduate interested in corporate social responsibility, these learnings can help inform career development conversations.

Evolution of the sustainability industry  

A decade ago, the sustainability industry – as it is defined today – did not exist. Sustainability was a terminology embedded into the notion of corporate social responsibility. New graduates and young professionals did not have an academic avenue to learn how to become a sustainability industry professional, which resulted in a resource gap of qualified industry professionals.

Fast-forward to today and sustainability and environmental industry perspectives are at the forefront of a burgeoning sector, one that is now saturated with highly trained professionals. Unfortunately, the industry has yet to adapt to the volume of suitable candidates available. Sustainability departments are still generally quite small within large national/multi-national corporations. More opportunities can be found within non-profits, NGOs and social enterprises, but usually with funding volatility and limited job security. However, I expect opportunities to continue to grow, as organizations are gradually incorporating a variety of sustainability tenets into job descriptions.

“… environmental industry perspectives are at the forefront of a burgeoning sector, one that is now saturated with highly trained professionals.”

Gaining access to sector leadership 

Gaining access to the sustainability industry requires thought leadership, ingenuity, creativity and a strong work ethic. To succeed in a saturated market of workers from all backgrounds, young professionals need to undertake an ongoing pursuit of career differentiation.

Developing a strong access point to credible industry peers can help professionals expand their network and gain exposure to relevant stakeholder events and organizations. This includes establishing relationships with insightful mentors who can provide invaluable career guidance. Young professionals should seek out mentors who can provide supportive advice, share best practices and offer access to larger networks in their area of focus or specialty. Professionals who facilitate the growth of the sector through ongoing recruitment of dynamic individuals have a positive net effect to the sustainability industry as a whole.

For more on mentorship, check out these articles on CERIC’s CareerWise website

How mentorship myths create mentorship failure
Mentoring for success: Post-secondary education and career readiness
10 programs and tools for professionals with interest in mentorship

Struggles young sustainability professionals encounter

Professionals seeking support from the sustainability community are typically not fully equipped to maximize the network development opportunities at their feet. For example, I mentor many young professionals and sustainability sector graduates who are intimidated by participating in networking events or establishing organic relationships with industry stakeholders.

Additionally, these professionals are not always willing or prepared to establish industry credibility through the creation of thought leadership content – for example, by establishing a social media presence or writing for trade publications.

One tactic I recommend to early career sustainability professionals is to identify relevant industry trade associations or stakeholder groups for which they can volunteer. These groups are generally staffed by former members of the industry and are run with minimal resources, so volunteers are embraced to assist with social media, event organization, committee oversight and several other communications-oriented initiatives. Strategic alignment with a credible network affiliation tends to build indirect sustainability industry credibility and thus, an expansion of an existing industry network for career development purposes.

Ongoing mentorship for the sustainability sector  

In the years that I have been sharing these strategies, I have managed to positively influence more than 50 sustainability and environmental industry professionals seeking career advice (including LinkedIn profile development, resume/cover letter review, segment-specific insights, industry network introductions and referrals, and ongoing career coaching and check-ins). It’s been a rewarding experience that I will continue to refine as I learn from others. It will be also be an exercise I encourage others to reciprocate and offer to other professionals as they become more secure in their careers in the sustainability and environmental sectors – thus continuing to propagate the long-term growth and retention of credible sector expertise.

5 strategic approaches career coaches can encourage new sustainability professionals to take

1. Mind-mapping: Reflect on academic pursuits and career-defining experiences. Consider what you liked and disliked. Identify areas of interest.
2. Market alignment: Identify agencies and associations related to the areas of focus you identified in the mind-mapping exercise and reach out to see if there are possible work or volunteer opportunities.
3. Leadership development: Many hiring managers are interested in candidates with diverse backgrounds. Seek out leadership opportunities that align with your hobbies and passions. You never know what positive career development alignment could come from exploring other interests.
4. Top-of-mind awareness: Be open to opportunities that come your way. Career development includes an element of luck and timing – but these derive from having a strong work ethic and establishing yourself as a person who is eager to take on new challenges.
5. Reciprocal mentorship: Be open to sharing your insights and perspectives with people who can benefit from your experience. Reciprocal relationships tend to lead to collaborative opportunities and open new doors.

Eric Meliton utilizes 12+ years’ experience in facilitating the implementation of sustainable water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure for the Partners in Project Green program at the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. Meliton assists with stakeholder engagement, partnership development and the execution of corporate social responsibility objectives directly with the business and governmental community.

Upskilling programs in conjunction with career development support will help ensure successful career transitions from fossil fuels to sustainable energy

Lliam Hildebrand 

I began my career in the steel industry over a decade ago, building pressure vessels, drilling rig platforms and flare stacks for the oilsands. I was always very proud of my job and my contribution to the Canadian economy. I would often take blueprints home to study at night so I could be ready the next day to build as much infrastructure as I could. The work was exciting – lifting, cutting, bending and welding multiple tons of steel together in complex configurations. When complete, our steel creations would usually be shipped up to the oilsands to be used in oil and gas production.

During the final year of my steel fabrication apprenticeship, I was given my first project as the lead hand, overseeing the construction of a wind farm weather station. I wasn’t very familiar with wind energy at the time and, keen to prove myself, I began to research renewable energy after work to become more aware of what I was building. During my research, I came across a documentary by Al Gore called An Inconvenient Truth. The film was my first real exposure to the concept of climate change, and I developed a pit in my stomach as I watched it. All of the infrastructure I had been so enthusiastically building throughout my career was centre stage in the film as the number one contributor to this global problem.

I walked onto the shop floor the next day and looked at the production in a whole new light. On one side of the shop, my co-workers and friends were building drilling rig platforms for the oilsands. Whereas before I only saw infrastructure that would benefit the economy and Canadian way of life, I now also saw it as perpetuating climate change. What I was building on the other side of the shop, however, was going to help produce clean energy from the wind. In that moment, I realized that my skills could either be used to create infrastructure that would contribute to runaway climate change or help build a clean energy future. After I completed my apprenticeship, I clocked out for the last time and set out on a path to use my trade skills to help address climate change.

Building a better future

Fast-forward to 2015 and I still hadn’t found a way to put my trade skills to use in addressing climate change. In fact, I had found myself working for a number of years in the oilsands. Then, the oil price crash resulted in numerous job losses in a short time span. With thousands of layoffs occurring on a weekly basis, lunchroom conversations became planning meetings. We realized it was time to utilize our trade skills to address the growing challenge of global warming, while also diversifying our employment opportunities. So, after many meetings, in spring 2016, four of my colleagues and I launched Iron & Earth to create a better future for ourselves, our co-workers and the planet.

The overarching vision of Iron & Earth was that fossil fuel industry workers will play a leading role in building the energy infrastructure required to reach global climate targets. Therefore, our mission as an organization was to empower ourselves to build a sustainable energy economy. Our top-level goal was facilitating a prosperous transition toward global carbon neutrality by 2050. The diagram below outlines our current theory of change in relation to that vision, mission and top-level goal.

Upskilling for an effective transition

Many stakeholders are required to help ensure a prosperous transition toward net-zero emissions by 2050. This is an entirely achievable goal and it can provide prosperity to those workers who may otherwise be negatively affected by this transition, if proactive steps are taken. Iron & Earth is currently developing and deploying upskilling training programs for a number of trades and a range of renewable energy technologies. Below is a diagram outlining the transferability of fossil fuel industry skill sets to renewables.

While some skill sets are transferable with no re-training, all workers would benefit from some upskilling and education on the various sustainable energy technologies. My experience of building a wind farm weather station is a good example of this. Although I was able to figure out how to build the infrastructure on my own, it took a lot of self-guided learning and research on my own time to understand what I was building.

Based on our research and experience working in this space, most upskilling programs could be limited to five to 10 days. We see major benefits of developing and delivering upskilling programs, but very few of them are currently available. Canada is facing a major opportunity: the workforce required to transform the energy system is largely already in place and a national upskilling initiative could help rapidly re-position millions of white- and blue-collar workers.

Challenges in making the switch

One of the big challenges we have had as an organization is ensuring trainees coming out of our programs can find employment in their new industries. I know first-hand how challenging this can be. A year into my university degree in environmental studies, which I started after finishing my apprenticeship, I found myself in debt after a long period of unemployment. When I asked my union what welding jobs were available for the summer, I was told there was nothing local, but that I could make upwards of $1,000 a day working in the oilsands in Fort McMurray, AB. I couldn’t turn it down.

However, I was amazed to find that many of my co-workers felt the same way I did. They also wanted to use their skills to work on renewable energy projects and wished those opportunities existed, but those types of projects just were not happening in Canada. So, I began six years of living a double life – studying environmental issues during the school year and then working in the oilsands to pay for my environmental studies degree. Fortunately, since then, there has been a significant increase in renewable energy development. This pace of development is a great start, but still not ambitious enough to reach climate targets and ensure prosperity for workers in these emerging energy industries.

The role of career development professionals

Skilled energy workers could benefit greatly from a range of career development programs as they navigate the complexity of diversifying their careers to include renewable energy. Imagine an electrician who has worked most of his life in the oilsands. He decides to take a five-day solar upskilling program and, upon graduation, considers a number of different paths forward. Perhaps he could start his own solar installation company. Maybe he could find a job in a large solar firm. Or he could continue working primarily in the oilsands but supplement his income with jobs in solar installation if he is laid off during a boom-and-bust cycle.

Regardless of the path they take, energy workers can benefit greatly from career development support. Many of these workers do not have up-to-date resumes. Others may have not had an interview for a number of decades. Some may need support and resources in establishing their own business. Others may be overwhelmed with the number of options and need coaching to guide them to their next step.

Iron & Earth is hoping to establish a network of career development stakeholders who could help in these areas and more. We can work together to ensure a prosperous transition for fossil fuel industry workers into sustainable energy careers.

Lliam Hildebrand is Executive Director and Chairman of Iron & Earth. Red Seal Steel Fabricator | Red Seal Welder | Boilermaker Local 191 | Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (RRU)