Jobs - pay attention to the numbers

In the middle of an election we will undoubtedly hear from the candidates about job creation - and in some cases, caution that cutting out fossil fuels will cause irreparable harm to the economy and create major job loss. Thus it is good to see the results of a new report from Clean Energy Canada which gives some current facts and projections in its modeling report, The New Reality.

Most of us would be hard pressed to guess how many are currently employed in the clean energy sector. There are already 430,500 people employed there right now. That is more than the number of people in the real estate sector for comparison. By the year 2030, the estimate is that there will be an increase to 639,200 under the proposed federal government new climate plan. The fossil fuel sector will drop by 9%. Thus new clean energy jobs will add 208,700 as opposed to 125,800 lost to fossil fuels.

Here is something else that the report says:

“The energy transition, like climate change itself, does not respect borders, and Canada has the ingredients needed to prosper in a future in which oil is no longer its largest export. As the International Energy Agency recently concluded, if the world is to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, no new oil and natural gas exploration and development will be needed going forward.”

We have a major part to play. Politician are far more interested in getting elected than in saving the planet. If you look at the above numbers it is important to see how many are still working in the sector that needs to disappear. It’s not really about jobs - it’s about our future on the planet. We need to pay attention to what the politicians say and vote accordingly.