Overview
The ability to deliver on British Columbia’s (B.C.’s) clean economy ambitions will depend on whether workforce systems can be better aligned across training, labour market planning and economic policy.
The global shift to a clean energy economy is accelerating, driven by economic competitiveness, energy security considerations, climate commitments and technological change. This transition is expected to generate significant employment growth across renewable energy, low-carbon technologies, energy efficiency, and related supply chains.
British Columbia is actively participating in this shift, with substantial public and private investment flowing into clean electricity, critical minerals, infrastructure, and the electrification of transportation and buildings. These developments present significant opportunities for economic growth and job creation across the province.
However, the availability of the workforce to meet this demand is emerging as a key constraint.
Labour market context in British Columbia
B.C. is experiencing a structural imbalance between labour demand and available skilled workers in key sectors supporting the clean economy transition.
- Skilled trades vacancies have increased by approximately 47% over the past decade, indicating persistent demand for qualified workers.
- At the same time, the province continues to experience elevated unemployment, including 6.7% overall unemployment and 15.6% youth unemployment (ages 15 to 24), suggesting challenges in matching workers to available opportunities.
- Employers across sectors report recruitment and retention challenges, particularly in skilled trades.
These pressures are occurring alongside broader structural trends, including an ageing workforce, slowing population growth, limits in training and post-secondary capacity, and regional disparities in access to training and employment pathways.
The challenge is not limited to labour supply alone, but also to how workforce development systems are coordinated. Workforce development, education, economic planning and climate policy are often designed and implemented separately, which can lead to:
- Misalignment between training programs and employer needs
- Delays in scaling training capacity with emerging sectors
- Gaps in regional workforce planning and delivery
- Limited integration of job quality and retention considerations
Addressing these challenges will require a more integrated, long-term approach to labour market planning that aligns training with industry needs, supports job quality and reflects regional differences.
Bringing sectors together
To better understand these challenges and identify solutions, the Pembina Institute and Accelerating Community Energy Transformation (ACET) brought together leaders from across industry, labour, post-secondary institutions, Indigenous organizations, civil society and government as part of the January 2026 Sustainable Jobs in B.C.: Workforce solutions for the clean energy transition workshop.
This report synthesizes discussions from those sessions and is intended to inform ongoing workforce planning and policy development related to B.C.’s clean economy transition.
Key themes and considerations
- Participants identified several areas of focus for strengthening workforce systems in B.C.
- There is a need for workforce strategies that better reflect regional labour market conditions and economic development priorities.
- Stronger mechanisms are required to support coordination between government, industry, labour and post-secondary institutions.
- Training pathways need to be more closely aligned with current and emerging skills requirements.
- Workforce planning should incorporate considerations of job quality, stability and long-term retention outcomes.
- Greater policy stability is required to support investment certainty, planning and training system responsiveness.
- There is a need to increase awareness of and pathways into skilled occupations.
- Opportunities exist to improve flexibility in training delivery while maintaining established quality and certification standards.
Implications for delivery and economic outcomes
The availability of skilled labour is increasingly a determining factor in the delivery of major projects. Without sufficient workforce capacity, there is a risk of project delays, reduced competitiveness in attracting investments, missed economic development opportunities and constraints on achieving climate and economic objectives.
Conversely, a well aligned workforce system can support timely project delivery, strengthen regional economies and improve labour market outcomes.
Further reading
- Building a workforce for B.C.’s clean energy future, highlights key findings from the Sustainable Jobs B.C. workshop
- Recruit, Train, Retain: Fostering low-carbon industries through regional workforce planning, explores how regional workforce planning can better support emerging low-carbon industries
- Key Elements: Nurturing a critical minerals workforce with lessons from British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, highlights workforce development approaches across provinces with relevance to critical minerals
Videos
At the start of the workshop, experts Dan Woynillowicz (Principal, Polaris Strategy and co-lead of the independent CleanBC review), Jim Stanford (Economist and Director of the Centre for Future Work) and Tamara Krawchenko (Associate Professor of Public Administration at the University of Victoria and ACET Research Lead) helped set the context for discussions. The videos highlight insights from their presentations.
Photos
Participants from across sectors and regions in B.C. took part in a facilitated dialogue on workforce challenges and opportunities in the clean energy transition.
Photos: Geoff Howe
