For Immediate Release
5 April, 2022
In response to the shortcomings of the recently announced Federal Climate Action plan for Canada the NL NDP is launching a series of research points that outlines the need to act now on a just transition to ensure workers in this province are at the forefront of NL’s post-pandemic recovery.
“What we need is a climate plan and a jobs plan that will put Newfoundland and Labrador on the path to building a sustainable clean-energy economy for everyone,” said NL NDP Leader and MHA for St. John’s Centre, Jim Dinn. “We have less than three decades to make this happen to protect the livelihoods of workers and their communities, and there is tremendous opportunities for job creation and investments for this province. Delaying action risks Newfoundlanders and Labradorians being left behind.”
The secretary-general of the United Nations recently noted in a speech on March 21, 2022, that “addiction to fossil fuels is mutually assured destruction… and the world is sleepwalking to climate catastrophe…. Instead of hitting the brakes on the decarbonization of the global economy, now is the time to race towards a renewable energy future.” In the fall of 2021, Mark Carney, former Bank of Canada governor, underscored to the financial sector that this transition is “the greatest commercial opportunity of our age.” It’s also a job-rich one: the International Labour Organization estimates 24 million green energy jobs will be created this decade via the global energy transition, and more than 43 million new renewable energy jobs by 2050.
Building a clean energy economy means governments, workers and local communities all working together to:
• redirect subsidies for fossil fuels toward job creation in low carbon industries (and gradually wind down oil while rapidly scaling up renewables/low carbon/energy efficiency),
• implementing a plan for public investments in wind and solar energy, electrical infrastructure, residential and commercial energy retrofits, electric transit and ferry services, and the electrification of industry and mining,
• support workers with new training and education and providing opportunities for re-skilling (via vocational training and post-secondary education); and,
• ensure the clean energy plan works for everyone by legislating labour and community benefit agreements, as well as local hire and targeted hire agreements.
The plan overview can be viewed at https://www.nl.ndp.ca/justtransitionplanforworkers
-30-