An energy transition is Alberta’s energy reality, so are the jobs that come with it

An energy transition is Alberta’s energy reality, but so are the jobs that come with it

By Merran Smith and Mark Zacharias

Last year saw a collapse in global energy demand that was the single biggest drop since the end of the Second World War. But that wasn’t the only thing unusual about that drop.

While most energy sources struggled in 2020, renewable energy actually grew worldwide. Not only was it the only energy sector to do so, it grew at its fastest pace in almost two decades, according to the International Energy Agency. While 2021 supply and demand shocks have driven fossil fuel prices higher, there are two longer term trends unfolding simultaneously.

And nowhere in Canada is seeing these two energy trends play out quite like Alberta. The province is set to see the biggest growth in clean energy jobs in Canada—an 164 per cent increase over the next decade—according to a June 2021 report from Clean Energy Canada and Navius Research, The New Reality. At the same time, the fossil fuels sector will see a six per cent drop in employment. In terms of raw numbers, it means a net increase of 25,000 Albertan energy jobs.

Wind power jobs are set to grow particularly quickly as the province transitions away from its fossil-fuel-heavy electricity grid. In fact, Alberta has some of the best solar and wind resources in the country, with solar potential on par with Florida’s. And with the federal government making a preelection promise to require all electricity in the country to be non-emitting by 2035, the future for Albertan renewables looks even sunnier.

But the opportunities extend far beyond renewable power. A new $1.3-billion clean hydrogen facility in Edmonton announced earlier this summer is just one recent example of the energy transition becoming a reality. The Alberta No. 1 geothermal project underway in Greenview is another.

The picture is similar across the country. Canada’s clean energy sector already employs 430,500 people—more than the entire real estate sector—and by 2030, that number is projected to grow almost 50 per cent to 639,200. At the same time, Canada’s fossil fuel sector will see a 9 per cent drop in employment. The clean energy sector is made up of companies and jobs that help reduce carbon pollution, whether by generating clean energy, helping move it, reducing energy consumption in transportation, buildings, and industry, or making lowcarbon technologies. It includes a whole range of jobs, from the engineer working at a clean hydrogen production facility to the insulator retrofitting homes so they waste less energy. Similarly, the GDP of Alberta’s clean energy sector is forecast to grow by a huge 204 per cent by 2030—almost twenty times more than the 11 per cent growth expected in fossil fuels.

This growth, however, depends partly on the implementation of the federal government’s climate plan. The study is clear: if the climate plan is weakened, there is weaker clean energy jobs growth.

It would be a mistake to miss out on such an opportunity.

Around the world, leaders and decision makers are taking action to build their respective clean energy sectors. Already, 131 countries— including the U.S and Canada—representing 70 per cent of the world’s emissions have adopted or are considering net-zero targets. As those countries decarbonize their economies, they’ll be looking to trade with others that can supply the low-carbon goods and services they need.

The energy transition, like climate change itself, does not respect borders, and Canada—including Alberta—has many of 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.

Oil and gas may have dominated Canada’s energy past, but it’s Canada’s clean energy sector that will define its new reality. Merran Smith is the executive director of Clean Energy Canada, a program at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Mark Zacharias is a special advisor at Clean Energy Canada and visiting professor at the Simon Fraser University school of public policy.