There is great potential for Canada's cleantech industry, but a lack of investment, commercialization and labour are holding it back
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Back in 1874, two Canadian inventors filed a patent application for an electric light bulb. Two years later, they sold the patent to Thomas Edison, who became known as the inventor of the light bulb.It’s this kind of mindset that Canada must overcome if the country is to become a market leader in the clean technology (cleantech) sector, according to Kevin Nilsen, president and CEO of ECO Canada in Calgary.
“Canada has what it takes to capture a big slice of that global innovation opportunity, but we are falling short. We're great at generating these ideas and developing them into promising technologies, but we're really behind other countries in getting those ideas to market,” he says.
“Honestly, I think it is a paradigm shift that we need to make. We can't just be satisfied with coming up with great ideas, we have to capitalize on them... It’s thinking about, ‘OK, how do we make these ideas profitable? How do we develop a workforce around them?’”
Canada is missing out on job creation and business opportunities, and it’s about ensuring investment is made in the commercialization and development of the workforce, says Nilsen.
“It seems like Canada is really great at building foundations for houses, but we need to finish that house and actually live in it. That is the next step, and that's why we're lagging behind.”
Growing industry
Cleantech is a subset of the green economy, which is a larger umbrella covering the very low-carbon, resource-efficient economy, he says.
“Cleantech is any technological process, product or service that provides any improvement in performance, reduction in cost, minimization of negative environmental impacts and more efficient use of natural resources. So, it is a subset of the larger green economy.”
The industries with the highest rates of cleantech use within Canada include pipeline transportation, rail and water transportation, utilities and oil and gas extraction.
In 2008, cleantech was a global $880-billion industry and by 2015, it had grown significantly to $1.2 trillion. That’s expected to more than double by 2022 to a $2.5-trillion sector, says Nilsen, while also providing economic opportunity for Canada’s natural resources, energy, manufacturing and agriculture sectors.
“There really is a tremendous opportunity for us to invest in this sector and for Canada to really make sure that we get a bigger piece of that revenue pie that comes from it and develop a workforce around it.”
Canada ranks number one worldwide when it comes to research, development and innovation, but it’s number 16 on the list when it comes to revenue generation, he says.
“We really need to deploy a workforce that can commercialize on our innovations to ensure that we can meet our full economic potential.”And while the COVID-19 pandemic has left the country in a very challenging situation, the global demand for cleantech and environmental services makes the sector uniquely positioned to help relaunch the economy, says Nilsen.“It really is a huge opportunity.
And in order to rebound from the recession that COVID-19 is springing on us, I think workforce development decisions and training investments and business decisions need to be grounded in solid research.”
Research and opportunities
To help the cleantech sector grow and prosper, ECO Canada provides research along with an analysis of gaps, opportunities, trends and investments that can help, he says.
“We work closely with industry, academia, government, employers and professionals to ensure that we have a deep, competent workforce to meet the demand for this growing sector. And extensive labour market research is what we do to understand the workforce gaps and opportunities.”
To that end, the organization recently commissioned research to:
- establish and validate a definitional framework for cleantech
- gather relevant data and insights such as in-demand occupations
- identify key trends, challenges and opportunities facing the sector and its workforce
The report — funded in part by Employment and Social Development Canada’s Sectoral Initiatives Program, which helped to make this publication possible — included a survey of 81 cleantech employers that found almost half of the respondents plan to hire cleantech positions in the next two years, for a combined total of 1,800 new jobs. Employers are struggling to fill a number of cleantech positions, such as engineers, designers, technical, geologists, lab specialists, environmental technicians, scientists, project managers, welders, mechanics, drivers and machine operators.
The most common recruitment methods are word of mouth (19 per cent), online (19 per cent), social media (18 per cent) and staff referrals (16 per cent).
Workforce opportunities
While private and public sector invest-ments and programs are in place to accelerate clean innovation, revenues and jobs, the survey results indicate the sector is facing workforce needs and challenges. While some employers are implementing strategies to address labour shortages, broader workforce solutions are needed.
“At ECO Canada, we're uniquely positioned to help ensure the development of HR strategies that are needed to fully build a robust workforce to meet the current and future need for environmental experts,” says Nilsen.
Industry, government and academia all need to work together to address these challenges and ensure a talent pipeline for this growing sector, he says.
“We have world-class innovators and that is a great strength. We also have a strong funding environment. We also have a very highly educated and competent workforce. But really it comes back to ensuring that we build that deep workforce and become more revenue hungry. I think we need to be a little bit more focused on creating jobs here in Canada in manufacturing and sales and marketing, and not only at the research stage,” says Nilsen.
“If we can do that, we will not only rebound our workforce, but we're also less vulnerable to these external factors such as OPEC setting the price of oil, pandemics and all these other things that are totally outside of our control.”
Since 2017, the government of Canada has invested more than $2.3 billion to support the innovation, commercialization and adoption of clean technology. This includes a $700-million investment through the Business Development Bank of Canada, which aims to help high-potential firms succeed and compete globally.
“They are getting involved at the innovation stage, and now they're starting to talk about commercialization more and more. But, in my opinion, focus is still too much on the new and innovative, and it really needs to transition to good and profitable: Are we solving a problem? Are we creating good jobs? Are companies getting stronger and more resilient? Do we see growing private investment?" he says.
“That's really where the focus needs to shift, and that is back to that paradigm shift that we're not only focusing on new and innovative, we need to focus on good and profitable.”
The areas where cleantech can be expected to see the most enhancements in the coming years would include the Internet of Things (IoT), resource extraction, environmental systems, transportation, advanced material proficiencies, big data analytics and other areas where Canada traditionally excels.
Training and education
Another challenge is the lack of a clear pathway for kids in high school on how to have a cleantech career, says Nilsen. It’s about developing the educational programs that will help, making them aware of the various opportunities that are out there and helping with that transition from school to work, which is so critical.
“Investment in a strong workforce is needed where we upskill traditional workers, we create a pathway for young people, we utilize talent coming from other countries,” he says.
ECO Canada is involved with the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy Program, which provides funding for full-time environmental job placements and skills training in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) or natural resources.
“ECO Canada has distributed more than $50 million over the past few years to companies to help them onboard new entrants and both to offset the cost of onboarding but also to train their staff and for growing sectors like cleantech. Having financial support or financial investment or incentives to hire new people and to train them and bring them up, that is really key,” says Nilsen.
Through wage funding, there’s less risk to employers when hiring and onboarding new staff by providing greater stability.
“If you look at the environmental sector as a whole, it is really growing at a tremendous rate. Some other reports that we have published suggest that as many as 100,000 net new jobs are needed in the next decade, just to keep up with growth in the environmental sector and the high retirement rate,” he says.
“We are expecting a massive compe-tition for talent, and that's why we need to create the clear career pathways and upskilling opportunities to meet the current and the future demand.”
ECO Canada has more than 900,000 website visitors annually and more than 100,000 subscribers, along with Canada’s largest niche environmental job board, says Nilsen, so it can effectively match employers and jobseekers.
ECO Canada also provides accredited environmental programs, he says.
“We work very hard with ensuring that there is a strong connection between industry and academia to help ensure that students learn what's needed to meet the demands of employers.”
ECO Canada is a steward for the Canadian environmental workforce across all industries. From job creation and wage funding to training and labour market research, it champions the end-to-end career of an environmental professional. Its aim is to promote and drive responsible, sustainable economic growth while also ensuring that environmental care and best practice is a priority. For more information, visit www.eco.ca.
