Alberta to “Just Transition” From Oil to Clean Energy
Photo Credit: Larry MacDougal/The Canadian Press via CBC
The federal government has long-since promised for a “just transition” of Alberta, with the goal to transition Albertan oil and gas workers over to clean energy jobs.
The long-awaited interim plans for clean energy in Alberta and the entirety of Canada were finally released on Feb. 23. The plans had been rebranded as the "Sustainable Jobs Plans'', instead of the original “Just Transition Plans”, due to backlash faced by the term.
The interim plans cover the government’s transitional phase from 2023 to 2025, and will help drive towards the first official Sustainable Jobs Plan, to be released in 2025, and then once every five years, according to its webpage. The interim plan has 10 key action areas, which include the creation of a governmental office for sustainable jobs, increasing funding for skill development, and the introduction of a new job stream under the Union Training and Innovation Program.
The phrase “just transition” first came out of the 2015 Paris Agreement discussions, meaning to make the transition for workers from nonrenewable energy to clean energy as smooth and harmless as possible.
Yet, as Alberta Environment Minister Sonya Savage told CBC, "The problem with the just transition, it's a polarizing term [...] It means phasing out fossil fuels immediately, keeping it in the ground.”
The Sustainable Jobs Plan gave an outline of the federal government’s approach to transitioning over to clean energy in Canada from 2023-2025. The plan also explained the current progress towards net-zero that has been made, and the steps that need to be taken in the time ahead.
The term “sustainable jobs” was defined in the plans as, “more appropriate in the Canadian context given that a future powered by low-carbon energy represents a generational economic opportunity for every region of this country.”
According to a news release from the Canadian government about the Sustainable Job Plans, “The Royal Bank of Canada estimates the net-zero transition could create up to 400,000 new jobs in Canada by the end of this decade alone.”
Jonathan Wilkinson, the Minister of Natural Resources, said in the same news release, “Canada has what it takes to become the clean energy and technology supplier of choice in a net-zero world.”
However, Alberta’s Premier, Daniele Smith, dislikes the new plans. In a statement released in response to the Sustainable Job Plans, she remarked, “I am puzzled by the federal government’s [plans] [...] and will be in contact with the federal government in the coming weeks to discuss a number of issues identified in it.”
She also revealed that Alberta had not given any approval for the plans nor been included in their development, and that “This kind of dysfunctional communication by the federal government with our province cannot continue if Canada is to have any chance of achieving its 2050 emissions reduction targets.”
After indicating a few more problems with the plans, she ended her statement by reassuring Albertans that the Alberta government “stands ready to use every tool at its disposal to oppose any unconstitutional interference or economic attack on our province by Ottawa.”