Canada should urgently undertake a 100% transition to renewable energy by 2050 and retrain skilled workers to move into renewable energy, or face inevitable economic hardship. That is apparently the opinion of more than two thirds of trades workers in Alberta's oil and gas sector.
A growing number of oil and gas tradespeople support a transition to renewable energy so long as it provides a just transition for current energy sector workers. The recommendations are part of a report and a Workers' Climate Plan by Iron & Earth, a Canadian non-profit organization founded in the spring of 2015 “when oil prices started to fall.” It is led by skilled trades workers with experience in Canada’s oil and gas sector. The report describes how Canada can become a leader in renewable energy, and a net exporter of renewable energy products, services and technology, by harnessing the industrial trade skills of current energy sector workers.
“As we face mounting job losses in the oil and gas sector — with 40,000 jobs lost in 2015 alone — and uncertain international markets, it is prudent to invest in the future by training existing industrial trades workers to capitalize on this global shift,” the report says
Respondents to a survey among workers in the sector were "overwhelmingly interested" in training and development in renewables: 86% in solar PV, 74% in solar heating, 71% in wind, 76% in geothermal, 53% in energy efficient retrofitting. Interest by comparison in nuclear power was far less: 17%.
First among seven recommended goals was the training of 1,000 tradespeople to become employable in four renewable energy project fields.
Workers’ Climate Plan Report: A Blueprint for Sustainable Jobs and Energy was released by Iron & Earth in late fall, 2016. Visit www.ironandearthy.org for more information.