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New Map Showcases B.C.’s 14,000 Clean Energy Jobs

An interactive map released Monday by the Pembina Institute creates a visual of B.C’s 14,000 jobs in clean energy.

The B.C. Clean Energy Jobs Map quantifies the number of jobs from 156 renewable energy projects including wind and solar power, run-of-river hydro, large hydro, biomass and biogas. Fifteen per cent of the projects are currently under construction. Large hydro provides the most jobs (5,800), followed by biomass and biogas (4,400), run-of-river hydro (2,600) and wind and solar (1,300).

 “Clean energy is a real success story, employing thousands of British Columbians in communities across the province,” said Aaron Ekman, secretary-treasurer of the B.C. Federation of Labour. “Smart, targeted policies will help generate even more of these family-supporting, career-track jobs across British Columbia. The future economic health of our province depends on a strategy that will put more dots on this map.”

“In First Nations communities, these long-term and meaningful jobs are needed,” said Judith Sayers, a strategic advisor to the Hupacasath First Nation, a leader in renewable energy.

On a per capita basis, the highest concentration of clean energy jobs are found in northeastern B.C., a region that is typically prone to the pain of boom-and-bust economic cycles.

“Good well-paying clean energy jobs are situated in all parts of B.C., from its biggest cities to its most remote communities,” said Paul Kariya, executive director of Clean Energy B.C. “The map gives a glimpse of a future in which all of us are working together … to come up with resilient energy solutions that just makes sense.”

In a press release, the Pembina Institute said the clean energy sector is often overlooked as an economic driver relative to fossil fuel industries in the province.

“As the world’s economies look to rapidly reduce carbon pollution, we want to make sure B.C. is well positioned to remain competitive,” said Penelope Comette, the director of Pembina’s clean energy economy program. “Policies that support the development of our clean energy economy will help to future-proof B.C. and enable us to thrive in a low-carbon world.”

The clean energy jobs map is the first of many — other maps will examine B.C.’s entire clean energy economy, including jobs associated with energy efficiency, green buildings and clean transportation technologies and services.

Like a kid in a candy store
When those boxes of heavily redacted documents start to pile in, reporters at The Narwhal waste no time in looking for kernels of news that matter the most. Just ask our Prairies reporter Drew Anderson, who gleefully scanned through freedom of information files like a kid in a candy store, leading to pretty damning revelations in Alberta. Long story short: the government wasn’t being forthright when it claimed its pause on new renewable energy projects wasn’t political. Just like that, our small team was again leading the charge on a pretty big story

In an oil-rich province like Alberta, that kind of reporting is crucial. But look at our investigative work on TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline to the west, or our Greenbelt reporting out in Ontario. They all highlight one thing: those with power over our shared natural world don’t want you to know how — or why — they call the shots. And we try to disrupt that.

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Like a kid in a candy store
When those boxes of heavily redacted documents start to pile in, reporters at The Narwhal waste no time in looking for kernels of news that matter the most. Just ask our Prairies reporter Drew Anderson, who gleefully scanned through freedom of information files like a kid in a candy store, leading to pretty damning revelations in Alberta. Long story short: the government wasn’t being forthright when it claimed its pause on new renewable energy projects wasn’t political. Just like that, our small team was again leading the charge on a pretty big story

In an oil-rich province like Alberta, that kind of reporting is crucial. But look at our investigative work on TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline to the west, or our Greenbelt reporting out in Ontario. They all highlight one thing: those with power over our shared natural world don’t want you to know how — or why — they call the shots. And we try to disrupt that.

Our journalism is powered by people just like you. We never take corporate ad dollars, or put this public-interest information behind a paywall. Will you join the pod of Narwhals that make a difference by helping us uncover some of the most important stories of our time?

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