Clean energy fuels job growth in B.C. and Canada
Credit to Author: Randy Shore| Date: Fri, 04 Oct 2019 20:47:44 +0000
The clean energy sector is projected to create jobs at four times the rate of the rest of the economy and companies in B.C. are poised to lead the way, according to Clean Energy Canada.
“Clean energy jobs are the fast lane in Canada right now,” said executive-director Merran Smith. “The sector is going to grow by 160,000 jobs by 2030, while the fossil fuel industry is projected to lose 50,000 jobs.”
Clean energy employs about 300,000 people in Canada, while the fossil fuel sector employs around one million, according to a new analysis by Clean Energy Canada, a program at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.
More than 32,000 people work in the clean energy sector in B.C. and produce about $8 billion toward the province’s GDP.
“You can see that we are punching above our weight when more than half of the 12 Canadian companies listed on the Global Cleantech 100 are based in B.C.,” she said.
Local firms that made the list include Axine Water Technologies, CoolEdge Lighting, Enbala Power Networks, Inventsys, Minesense Technologies, Semios, and Terramera.
“We’ve had good, consistent climate policy in British Columbia for over a decade and we’ve seen $5.3 billion in investment (in 2017),” she said.
B.C. is also home to up-and-coming clean tech firms in the transportation sector, such as GreenPower Bus, Electra Meccanica, Corvus Energy, along with established players such as Ballard Power.
Adding fuel to the projected growth rate, the provincial government has committed to a massive turnover of three million fossil fuel-powered vehicles.
Under the new goals, by 2025, 10 per cent of new light-duty passenger vehicle sales in B.C. will be zero-emission vehicles, increasing to 30 per cent by 2030, and 100 per cent by 2040.
Spurred by federal and provincial rebates, electric vehicle sales nearly tripled in the second quarter of 2019 in B.C. compared to the same period last year, according to Electric Mobility Canada. British Columbians purchased more than 9,000 EVs in the first half of this year.
There is an opportunity to grow B.C.’s manufacturing base as EV adoption rises among car buyers and the public transportation sector.
Electric vehicles are en route to becoming California’s fifth largest export.
“EV sales are set to grow 48 per cent by 2030 (in B.C.), and nationally the EV industry will employ 14 times its current workforce,” said Smith.
Could it happen here? B.C.’s hydro-electric grid can provide very low-carbon energy to a fledgling manufacturing sector, she noted.
“That means you can power manufacturing with clean energy, which is something progressive companies are going to look for,” she said.
All the good news is contingent on progressive energy policy, said Smith.
“We already saw 6,000 jobs and half a billion in investment lost when Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government cancelled renewable energy projects,” she said. “All of that is at risk in this (federal) election, if we elect a government that is likely to dismantle these programs.”