Canada can be a global leader in the green space
Kevin Nilsen
President & CEO, ECO Canada
As the world forges on with the battle against climate change and embarks on a new journey to post-pandemic recovery, continued advancement in the green economy is paramount. And Canada is in a unique position to play a leading role in this, with its vast natural resources and talented workforce ready to hold the torch for a greener future.
In 2020 ECO Canada published its report, From Recession to Recovery: Environmental Needs, Trends and Challenges in the Decade Ahead (funded in part by Employment and Social Development Canada’s Sectoral Initiatives Program), revealing that environmental employment across the country is expected to increase exponentially in the next decade. While this is encouraging, collaboration among key players in the environmental sector is needed to ensure this growing workforce is armed with the skills it needs to succeed.
Kevin Nilsen is President and CEO of ECO Canada, the organization working with industry, government, and academia to build a strong environmental workforce in Canada. Here, he discusses the opportunity Canada has to be a global leader in the green space.
A growing environmental labour market ECO Canada has been working with industry, academia, and all levels of government to help grow and support the environmental workforce for nearly 30 years.
With a growing demand for green jobs, it works to provide support cross-country to Canadians interested in developing careers and skills in the myriad of environmentally related fields, and to companies looking to not only fill roles, but grow their business in sustainable ways.
The organization’s recent report delved into the opportunities that lie within the environmental labour market, and the gaps that need to be addressed – one of its key findings showed the environmental workforce is set to grow by 8 per cent by 2029, despite the pandemic. Over the next 10 years, higher job growth rates are expected in sustainable transportation, cleantech, nature conservation, water quality, green building, energy efficiency, and renewable energy.
To take hold of this opportunity, a specific set of skills will be required.
“The environmental labour market is still growing, though COVID-19 has taken its toll on economies and industries. It’s now up to employers, policy makers, academia and our workforce to stay focused on furthering the environmental economy as our recovery takes hold,” said Nilsen.
About one in 30 workers in Canada (620,100) was in a green job in 2019, with environmental workers present in every Canadian region, and practically every occupation. Workers come from all sectors including conservation officers, biologists, hydro managers, geologists, equipment operators, engineers, and general labour positions.
While this level of job creation is encouraging, it has also left many concerned with an impending skill shortage with close to 30 per cent of the current workforce poised to retire within the next decade. This retirement high is predicted to see nearly 75 per cent of net environmental job openings to be in roles related to management, business, finance, and administration.
As it now stands, candidates qualified to work in environmental occupations are projected to be in short supply through to 2029, particularly in management occupations, or those requiring a university or post-secondary education.
Nilsen said this means it’s more important than ever to develop training solutions and career resources to ensure qualified workers are available to support the sector’s growth and build the world’s leading green workforce.
“Employers have been telling us that recent graduates are missing some essential skills such as project management and financial acumen and therefore need additional- al skills training. We are working with them to develop plans and hands-on studies to broaden the skillsets of those in the environmental workforce,” Nilsen commented.
Need for business acumen
Canada has tremendous capacity for continued innovations with a nation of creative thinkers, but key industry players are identifying gaps in the softer business skills required to progress said innovations and commercialize them.
The report found that it is business development and management skills in young professionals that are noticeably lacking as more senior team members retire and take their knowledge with them. “The lack of high-quality business development talent to help raise capital is one of the top barriers for success – training talent in business acumen at the academia level is key.
“We need a workforce that can establish sales and marketing teams, as well as mastering so-called soft skills like managing budgets, writing concise technical reports, giving presentations and managing projects – but we need the proper training in place to make this kind of talent availability,” said Nilsen. Displaced workers from declining industries also pose a significant opportunity for upskilling and transitioning to green jobs, Nilsen noted.
To do this, strategies for deepening the environmental workforce must be viewed as a shared responsibility among employers, educators, and all levels of government, to address the necessary skills required to thrive in the green economy.
Educators must ensure they are staying abreast of competency requirements for environmental jobs, consider incorporating environmental courses or electives into their programs’ curriculum, and prepare students for the increasingly digitized workforce.
Where the government can continue to foster Canada’s green economy and its workforce is through labour market partnership programs and other initiatives, supporting environmental labour market research and career profiling, allocating funding for job creation, training, and growth, and maintaining commitments to environmental goals.
When it comes to industry and employers, promoting employee engagement and retention, ensuring adequate knowledge transfer processes, fostering employee training and development (including soft skills) and hiring displaced workers from declining sectors or regions are all key to the workforce’s success.
“At the end of the day, a shortage of green talent impacts Canada’s ability to meet its environmental goals which we are all invested in,” said Nilsen.
The road to recovery
Although the pandemic has exacerbated concerns for governments and economies, the opportunity to make a green shift towards environmental and renewable mindsets is a net-positive as Canada begins its journey to net-zero emissions. Nilsen concluded: “It’s now up to employers, policy makers, academia and our workforce to stay focused on furthering the environmental economy as our recovery takes hold.”
To read ECO Canada’s latest labour market outlook report or access other workforce reports, contact us at media@eco.ca.
