A new job training and upskilling program will open up a pathway to the clean energy economy for some of the 80% of Canadian fossil fuel workers who’ve said they want to move into net-zero jobs, Edmonton-based Iron & Earth announced today.
The 12-month, C$16-million grant from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) will support retraining for at least 2,200 participants, provide “options, tools, and resources” to help workers plan their own shift into renewable energy, and “give communities the choice to build and implement their own climate solutions,” including “small-scale renewable power generation systems built by the community, for the community,” Iron & Earth says in a release.
The announcement cites a 2021 poll the group commissioned from Abacus Data, in which 84% of respondents said they would participate in up to 10 days of rapid upskilling if they were paid to attend.
Established in 2016, Iron & Earth “formed around the lunchroom tables of the Canadian oil sands during an oil price crash which resulted in over 100,000 oilpatch employees losing their jobs between 2015 and 2017,” the group says on its website. “We realized that our skills were transferable to the renewable energy industry and recognized the urgency of diversifying into these technologies.”
Learn more about this groundbreaking project here.