Net Zero: Energy transition puts 880,000 jobs at risk: report
October 22, 2021 | iPolitics
The Lead
A new report from the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices suggests that more than 880,000 Canadians work in industries at risk of decline or closure in global clean energy transition. The report outlines multiple vulnerable sectors, including the oil and gas industry and other sectors that support emissions-intensive activities, like transportation and manufacturing.
“This transition is coming from factors outside of Canada’s control. So really, it’s all about what can the country and what can we do at all orders of government to prepare ourselves for that shift that is making its way to our shores no matter what,” said Dale Beugin, vice president of research at the institute.
The report found that every province is at risk of being affected, but that Alberta is most vulnerable with more than nine per cent of its workforce employed in relevant industries. Saskatchewan is next at six per cent. Ontario, with its significant population, has the highest number of total jobs at risk, but only five per cent of its workforce is in vulnerable sectors, mostly manufacturing. The Canadian Press has more on the report’s findings.
Internationally
New research from Bennington College and Beyond Plastics found that the production of plastics is set to emit more greenhouse gas emissions than coal-fired power plants within this decade.
“The scale of the plastics industry’s greenhouse gas emissions is staggering, but it’s equally concerning that few people in government or in the business community are even talking about it,” said Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics. Reuters has that story.
Jennifer Morgan, the executive director of Greenpeace International, warned against the efforts by countries and corporations to ‘greenwash’ their ongoing pollution levels during the upcoming COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. The Associated Press has more.