A pdf of the complete submission can be found here.

Introduction

The BC Federation of Labour (“BCFED”) is committed to ensuring that workers' rights and well-being are maintained and strengthened as we make the necessary shift to a clean economy.

In the current moment, with our governments looking for province- and nation-building projects to ensure energy sovereignty and security, there is huge opportunity to fulfill this vision in the transition to a clean economy through a strong, comprehensive CleanBC plan, enhanced by the following 10 recommendations:

Integrate and communicate climate action as a core pillar of government economic and social priorities
Continue to invest in CleanBC and raise revenue to support enhanced climate action
Take bold action and increase investments in clean energy
Create a workforce development plan
Draw on labour's expertise in developing this plan
Invest in Connecting BC: A ten-year vision and investment plan for public transit throughout BC
Tie public investments to public benefits
Address climate occupational health and safety issues
Maintain provincial targets but integrate a regional approach
Ensure CleanBC is fair and equitable

The latest Climate Change Accountability Report released earlier this year admits “B.C.’s current policy landscape does not put us on track to meet our 2030 targets,”[1] and projects BC will only get halfway, reducing emissions by 20% from the 2007 baseline rather than 40%. We urge you to approach this review with a sense of urgency and renewed purpose.

Over the past few years, the BCFED and our affiliates have engaged on three initiatives related to CleanBC, and some of our recommendations included here have been previously submitted through those engagements. The full submissions are linked in the Appendix for your consideration. It is disappointing that the Clean Transportation Action Plan and Regional Energy Resource Table engagements from 2023 have not been fully implemented or integrated within the CleanBC plan yet, as they would make a significant difference in achieving BC’s emissions targets.

Integrate and communicate climate action as a core pillar of government economic and social priorities

The CleanBC plan needs an overarching whole-of-government approach to have a meaningful impact in achieving its vision. While there are multiple activities under the banner of CleanBC — policies, programs, investments, goals and data collection and analysis — many are siloed, small-scale and not strategic in providing a pathway to the necessary targets.

It is heartening that ministerial mandate letters highlight that the “commitment to take action on climate change remains foundational and will be key to a healthy and prosperous BC for future generations.”[2] However, there are many opportunities to integrate this foundation into the government’s broader economic and social priorities of economic growth, reducing costs for families, strengthening health care, and enhancing community safety:

There is tremendous potential for economic growth in the clean economy through renewable energy production and distribution, building retrofits, public transit expansion, industrial decarbonization, adaptation programs and more.
These initiatives could reduce costs for families by providing affordable, reliable energy sources and reducing energy consumption, as well as strengthening wages through good, family-supporting jobs in the clean economy.
The health impacts of climate change have been well documented. The “2021 heat dome alone killed over 600 people in BC and injured thousands more, while wildfire smoke causes hundreds of millions in healthcare costs annually.”^{^[3]}
Extreme weather events also decrease community safety and increase fear and stress, contributing to more health care needs. Enhancing safety and strengthening health care in BC requires bold climate action.

CleanBC must not only require that the BC government integrate climate action into its entire mandate but also invest in communicating this in accessible ways. British Columbians have become divided over whether to pursue climate action or other priorities, while the reality is that they are all inter-connected. Meaningfully addressing climate change is a significant way of tackling the urgent challenges facing British Columbians and our communities, both now and for future generations.

Continue to invest in CleanBC, and raise revenue to support enhanced climate action

The loss of $3 billion from the elimination of the provincial consumer carbon tax presents CleanBC with a major revenue issue. Compounding this, 2024/25 revenues under the industry carbon tax system introduced last year (the so-called output-based pricing system) were “about $500 million lower than they would have been under the old system.”[4]

Rather than close these funding gaps by cutting the scope and implementation of climate action, the government should initiate several other revenue-raising options. That can start with ensuring that big polluters are paying their fair share and transitioning “fossil fuel subsidies to the clean tech and clean energy sectors” (as the government promised in January 2024),[5] then considering broader government possibilities; among them:[6]

a one percent increase to the corporate income tax rate and a two percent increase to the top two personal income tax brackets;^{^[7]}
addressing the misclassification of employees as independent contractors, which is costing the government hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue;[8]
and making strategic investments with multiplier effects that raise GDP and revenue and contribute to the clean economy, such as in childcare, health care, worker-owned co-operatives, buy-local policies and public procurement reform,[9] public transit, and public post-secondary institutions and union-led trades training.

Take bold action and increase investments in clean energy

While the current geopolitical context may increase fear of change and further retrench the status quo, this is precisely the moment to recommit to CleanBC and take bold action in asserting BC’s energy sovereignty through investing in clean energy and enhancing, not reducing, targets.

Far from being risky, this is the most economically prudent direction BC can take.[10] We are already late to the game compared to leaders in Europe and Asia. The International Energy Agency (IEA)’s ground-breaking 2021 report, Net Zero by 2050, stated unequivocally that there “is no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply in our net zero pathway.”[11] More recently, the Financial Times reported many “oil majors now concede that their production will probably peak within the next decade,” despite “struggling to convince investors they can grow.”[12]

Canada is also in a unique position as Trump’s attacks on clean energy in the US are boosting Canada as a “preferred investment destination.”[13] Clean energy technology costs are going down, while efficiency is going up - “renewable energy has suddenly become the obvious, mainstream, cost-efficient choice around the world.”[14] The United Nations latest report states that renewable energy has “irreversibly crossed a positive tipping point and entered a virtuous cycle of cost decline and widespread adoption.”[15] And a recent poll found that two-thirds of Canadians favour developing clean energy over fossil fuels.[16]

BC is well placed to take advantage of these trends, with natural advantages across the renewable energy spectrum of hydro, wind, solar, tidal and geothermal energy, and labour is ready to support that effort. At the 2022 BCFED Convention, delegates passed a resolution for a “controlled reduction in the production of fossil fuels in a swift transition to a renewable energy economy.”[17] The government should reinvigorate CleanBC to increase its investments in clean energy sources; and, while existing sectoral targets to reduce emissions in industry should be strengthened and binding, targets should also be set in relation to the production of clean power.

There is an opportunity to use government public buildings (municipal, provincial and federal) throughout the province as sites of renewable energy generation and distribution to create good, union jobs and reduce costs through economies of scale increasing purchasing power. Imagine children and workers seeing their school powered by solar panels on the roof and incorporating that into the learning environment to reduce climate anxiety; or the public visiting community centres and libraries running off district geothermal energy networks. These local initiatives could combine long-term vision with short-term practical application to inspire British Columbians about the sustainable future.

Create a workforce development plan

The first part of the BCFED Convention resolution referenced above stressed the need for investment in “training and continued employment for workers exiting the fossil fuel industry,” which is missing from CleanBC. The lack of a workforce development plan is a significant gap, both for the message it sends to workers and the economic needs we will soon have to meet.

Clean Energy Canada projects that, in 2050, there “are set to be 400,800 jobs in B.C.’s clean energy sector, up from 83,100 in 2025.”[18] The BC government’s Clean Energy Strategy highlights that “[p]owering our future with clean energy is one of the job-creation opportunities for our generation.”[19] While the potential future is bright, this level of industrial transition must be accompanied by a labour readiness plan — so that workers share the economic gains instead of bearing the weight of disruption, and to ensure BC has the trained workforce we will need to make this shift. A recent study of workforce development programs in BC, Alberta and Ontario found that more “publicly supported region- and sector-specific workforce development initiatives are needed as the existing suite of government programs does not always connect workers to jobs that advance strategic economic and environmental objectives.”[20]

A labour plan is mentioned in both CleanBC and the Roadmap to 2030 but has yet to be meaningfully implemented into the climate action strategy; and the more recent Regional Energy and Resource Table Framework also mentions developing a labour market plan to support the identified priorities[21] but this work is stalled and has not yet been incorporated into CleanBC. While the government’s StrongerBC: Future Ready Action Plan intends to “help thousands of people get the skills they need to succeed in the changing economy,”[22] and while the Clean Energy Strategy[23] includes a couple of pages on creating jobs and references Future Ready, a robust workforce development strategy for CleanBC is still missing. Further, Clean and Competitive: A Blueprint for BC’s Industrial Future,[24] a welcome industrial strategy released in 2024, features “jobs” 48 times but does not include a jobs plan to ensure that the economic opportunities envisioned will provide good, family-supporting careers and that there are supports and pathways for impacted workers and equity-seeking workers.

Interestingly, there is now an Industry Strategy for Workforce Readiness for the Clean Economy online, dating from 2020 but only released last year along with its associated labour market analysis. Labour was involved in its development but not aware of the outcomes until recently. We urge you to review it, update the analysis including collecting the necessary data on skills and forecasting, and adopt its goals within CleanBC:

“Identify the specific labour and workforce opportunities that will emerge through the implementation of CleanBC;
Better understand the workforce challenges and opportunities for the emerging clean economy; and
Recommend actions across a range of stakeholder groups that, if implemented, will help individuals and businesses thrive in the clean economy.”[25]

In designing a CleanBC workforce development plan, the government should work with BC labour as partners and draw on the recommendations within the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s Guidelines for a Just Transition[26] and A Sustainable Jobs Blueprint, Parts I and II[27] from the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the Pembina Institute. A “clear picture of timelines, jobs lost and created, job locations, and skills and education pathways is needed to properly inform net-zero workforce and economic development planning,”[28] and these reports provide multiple, strong recommendations for ensuring that workers are supported throughout. CleanBC should include a specific mandate for the protection and creation of decent work, and the well-being of workers and communities should be a metric for tracking progress on climate action, requiring data on clean energy job quality. Indicators could include net new sustainable jobs (and retention and compensation), workforce retraining and support, collective agreement coverage and employment equity.[29]

As mentioned in relation to the overall CleanBC plan, communication is also vital here – workers and their labour representatives feel like they are in the dark right now, which increases fear, uncertainty and pushback. In some cases, climate action is being promoted by employers at the expense of workers who are losing their jobs through this “greenwashing.” Instead, workers and labour need to be at the table with decision-makers developing and planning these shifts in the economy and communicating the opportunities and impacts to workers and communities. As the IEA highlights, the “transition to net zero is for and about people” and a shift of the necessary scale and speed “cannot be achieved without sustained support and participation from citizens.”[30] The importance of this “social dialogue” is promoted in the ILO’s Just Transition Guidelines and the CLC/Pembina Sustainable Jobs Blueprint. The BCFED is launching a worker engagement initiative throughout BC communities over the fall, and government could benefit from the insights gained directly from workers facing the impacts of the changing climate and economy head-on.

The skilled trades will be increasingly in demand for the clean economy. The BC Building Trades celebrated the NDP’s announcement during last year’s election “that it will invest $150 million over three years in SkilledTradesBC.”[31] This funding commitment needs to be implemented immediately to restore the skilled trades training system and support the necessary growth; and these apprenticeships should include women, Indigenous and racialized workers, and other groups under-represented in the skilled trades.

There is a danger in governments taking short-term approaches to skills development and investing in micro-credentials, for instance, in heat pump or solar panel installation. TradeUpBC is the latest program embracing micro-credentials in the province.[32] Short-term programs do not provide workers with the necessary depth of knowledge and experience, and this has both quality and safety consequences. Instead, the government must protect and enforce Skilled Trades Certification and move forward urgently to expand the list of certified skilled trades. Skills training for clean energy jobs must be focused on upgrading and expanding, not replacing skilled trade certifications, with additional funding provided to union training centres[33] and those accessing training through union programs (including through the Future Skills Grant, currently limited to post-secondary institutions).

If implemented in association with union skilled trades providers, the Youth Climate Corps is a potential avenue for youth to access climate jobs. At the 2024 BCFED Convention, a resolution passed to lobby the provincial and federal governments “to invest in an expanded Youth Climate Corps providing unionized jobs and training to young adults to support important work on climate adaptation and mitigation projects in their own communities.” The concept is for governments to provide a two-year public program that would deliver a good, green job with a living wage to anyone under 35 who applies.

Draw on labour’s expertise in developing this plan

As well as being developed with full labour participation, the necessary provincial workforce development strategy should draw on existing sector-specific recommendations from labour, based on their deep connections with the workers they represent.

For instance, MoveUP, which represents workers at FortisBC and BC Hydro, has developed a proposal for a provincial building energy retrofit program that would cut through the confusion and provide a one-stop shop for grants, applications and information, conduct proactive outreach and coordinate retrofits throughout a neighbourhood.[34] It would also create a made-in-BC energy efficiency manufacturing sector to help supply this work and coordinate bulk buying of energy efficiency building materials to reduce costs for users, businesses and government.

United Steelworkers (USW) has been advocating for their members in forestry and steel. In relation to forestry, USW, in association with other BC unions representing forestry workers, has developed a proposal for A Better Future for BC Forestry, with recommendations for supporting workers and communities and “building a sustainable, value-added forest sector.”[35] On steel, USW urges the provincial government to apply local procurement policies in planned infrastructure projects to ensure the use of Canadian steel and other home-grown products, as the federal government now has.[36]

USW also submitted recommendations for the development of the Canadian critical minerals strategy[37] that should be applied provincially within the CleanBC strategy. A low-carbon economy depends on a critical mineral strategy to expand renewables and green energy alternatives. Globally, BC mines have lower emissions and better environmental and safety standards, and mining unions are committed to protecting our environment, strengthening reconciliation with First Nations, ensuring BC’s mines provide family-supporting jobs and increasing employment equity. There is a huge opening in “taking a mine to mill approach. The establishment of entire supply chains, such as in the electric vehicle and battery manufacturing sectors, is expected to create further demand and opportunity within Canada’s critical minerals mining and processing sector.”[38] Locally, USW celebrated the NDP’s platform commitments strengthening BC’s critical minerals production, including a “new union-led training program to ensure the province has the skilled workforce required to capitalize on these opportunities;”[39] however, this remains to be implemented. Our affiliates have also expressed support for circular economy initiatives. Within CleanBC, the government should develop and invest in recycling programs for critical raw materials and second-life applications for heavy metals.

IBEW Canada has advocated for significant investment in energy infrastructure, including “expanding and upgrading all electrical generation sources, transmission grids, and distribution networks across the country.”[40] This investment in electrification is the kind of provincially and nationally significant project to ensure energy sovereignty and security that our governments are looking for, and would create thousands of good, union jobs across BC and Canada.

Other affiliates have implemented or advocated for climate action initiatives that should be included in CleanBC. The BC Teachers’ Federation has raised the alarm on extreme heat in schools for students and workers, and advocated “for structural changes to ensure schools are as safe as possible”[41] through retrofits providing cooling and wildfire level air filtration systems. The Directors’ Guild of Canada[42] and IATSE 891 are working hard to achieve sustainable productions in the media industry, with IATSE 891 providing clean energy battery training.[43] And the Canadian Union of Postal Workers has developed the Delivering Community Power plan, including “[e]lder check-ins, low-fee postal banking, high-speed internet, and climate-friendly delivery with a fleet of electric vehicles.”[44]

Invest in Connecting BC: A ten-year vision and investment plan for public transit throughout BC

With emissions from the transportation sector — accounting for the largest share (42%) of BC’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions — up 18% from 2007 to 2022,[45] there is an urgent need for bold action. In 2024, BC transit unions came together to advocate for a strong, inspiring vision for public transit in BC. With the province’s Clean Transportation Action Plan (CTAP) still pending,[46] we believe our vision should be at its core.

Connecting BC unites local and regional transit into an integrated, sustainable, zero-carbon whole, making a huge difference in emissions reductions, as well as affordability and health.[47] It provides a 10-year plan for investing in public transit throughout BC, with immediate action on three key priorities:

an inter-community express bus service connecting BC communities.
eliminating privatization throughout BC’s public transit systems to ensure better, more reliable services for riders, and fairer benefits and wages for transit workers, starting with fulfilling the NDP’s election promise to bring HandyDART in-house.[48]
extending the provincial government’s free transit program to cover all British Columbians 18 and younger.[49]

“In the longer term, the plan includes a dramatic expansion and electrification of BC Transit’s bus and HandyDART fleet, new regional rail and passenger ferry connections, accelerating Metro Vancouver’s transit plans and integrating transit systems to allow seamless travel throughout BC.”[50] This is the type of province- and nation-building project that governments are currently looking for, in particular, regional passenger rail connecting key locations in BC.

The proposed capital investment of $15 billion in addition to the $5 billion already committed, and an operating increase from $350 million to $1.5 billion per year by the end of 10 years, has a major impact on employment, creating an average of 16,800 jobs per year in construction and 23,700 jobs per year in operations.[51] This investment could be repurposed from existing provincial budget areas that target emissions-heavy transportation systems.

Tie public investments to public benefits

While the Clean Power Action Plan[52] launched earlier this year, and the recent calls for renewable power from BC Hydro[53] are welcome, the benefits from these and future public investments must be tied to benefits to workers and communities.

First, we must ensure that the climate jobs created are good, family-supporting, unionized jobs with wages, benefits and pensions that allow workers to thrive; and pathways into these jobs must be clear and supported (through the workforce development plan proposed above). The federal government is tying its clean energy tax credits to the provision of prevailing wages, and the BC government should do this and more, ensuring publicly-funded investment projects are contingent on strong labour standards, including union representation and employment equity, potentially through Project Labour Agreements. This is especially important because the majority of those in resource-intensive industries affected by these transitions are already unionized.

Public ownership is another community benefit that should be foundational. In the oil and gas sector, the Government of Canada provided almost $30 billion in financial support in 2024, while oil and gas companies recorded huge profits.[54] In BC, the recent calls for power are targeting independent, private power producers for public investment. We need to put the public back into our existing systems and explore public ownership of future clean energy solutions. As the cost of renewable energy goes down while the US shifts back to higher cost coal,[55] there may be an opportunity for BC to sell lower-cost electricity to US customers and the return in investment should provide government revenue, not private profit. For the provincial government’s commitments to Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) goals, public ownership and accountability ensures increased environmental and worker protections (and enforcement).

While there is an urgency to move quickly to address increasing climate challenges, we caution the removal of regulatory and legislative accountability mechanisms that are in place to protect the environment. Already, these are not effective at holding corporations accountable and may need to be strengthened or rebalanced in relation to increasing industrial activity for electrification, critical mineral mining and other infrastructure development.

Address climate occupational health and safety issues

Workers and communities are facing the impacts of climate change head-on: workplace closures, wildfire evacuations, floods, cold stress on construction sites, heat stress in schools and more.

For instance, workplace safety is significantly compromised by extreme heat and it is affecting the health and safety of outdoor workers and an increasing share of indoor workers, such as those in food service.[56] “Early symptoms of heat stress – such as excessive fatigue, lethargy, irritability, lack of coordination, and altered judgement – can result in serious incidents.”[57] These impacts disproportionately land on the most precarious workers, such as migrant workers,[58] workers with disabilities, low-wage[59] and other marginalized workers.

Workers are also increasingly being exposed to poor air quality from wildfires. There are multiple short- and long-term health effects associated with wildfire smoke, including “the aggravation of pre-existing respiratory and cardiovascular disease” and “an increased risk of cancer or other chronic health problems.”[60] Exposure to wildfire smoke is made worse by the heat and humidity, and the smoke can be a safety hazard to workers due to reduced visibility.

CleanBC’s Climate Preparedness and Adaptation Strategy should embed robust legislative and policy measures, including working with the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB), to ensure climate occupational health and safety issues are meaningfully addressed. As a first step, the Employment Standards Act should be updated to provide “five days of paid leave for workers who are unable to safely travel between work and home during natural and environmental disasters.”[61] It is heartening to see that the WCB has added climate initiatives to their current workplan, including considering heat stress, cold stress and solar radiation, but this work needs to start immediately and be informed by affected workers and labour unions.

Maintain provincial targets but integrate a regional approach

BC consists of a vast geography with significant regional differences in relation to climate, resources and communities. Thus, while CleanBC should maintain and strengthen provincial and sectoral targets, the plan should also take a regional approach, in particular, recognizing the distinct context of Northern BC,[62] where workers and communities are most heavily connected to the fossil fuel industry. Government needs to intentionally plan projects as this is a critical opportunity to bring benefits to rural communities that are suffering due to industry closures: what industry will be developed and where will it be located for the most worker and community benefits?

Community coalitions and municipal and regional decision-makers are leading the way and ready and eager to support and strengthen the province’s climate action initiatives.[63] However, while the Climate Action Secretariat supports some regional partnerships,[64] and the Regional Energy and Resource Tables (RERT)[65] ostensibly include a regional approach, neither of these initiatives have been fully integrated into CleanBC (there is no mention of either in the latest Climate Change Accountability Report); and neither have meaningfully invested in regional and local collaborations to inform the design and implementation of climate action initiatives.

Publicly-funded regional coalitions should reflect the mandate and constituency of the federal Sustainable Jobs Partnership Council, providing “independent, expert advice” on sustainable jobs development to the BC government and consisting of “a broad cross section of expertise, knowledge and lived experience, with positions earmarked for Indigenous, labour and industry representatives.”[66]

Ensure CleanBC is fair and equitable

While the consumer carbon tax itself became politically unpopular, the associated Climate Action Tax Credit helped offset the impact of the tax on low- to middle-income individuals, who could receive up to $400 a year.[67] This was an important equity initiative within CleanBC, which also includes other measures for low-income households, such as the provision of free air conditioners to people who are also medically vulnerable,[68] the Better Homes Energy Savings Program providing retrofits[69] and the recent expansion of the government’s heat pump affordability programs, including support for renters.[70]

While these are important initiatives, the entire spectrum of CleanBC policies and programs should be grounded in an equity approach[71] (drawing on the government’s own Gender-Based Analysis Plus method[72]) to ensure that all actions, including those proposed here, have a positive not negative impact on marginalized groups.[73]

This is vital because the impacts of climate change are not fair. Indigenous, Black and racialized workers, women and gender-diverse workers, workers with accessibility barriers and other marginalized workers and their communities bear much of the weight of climate impacts due to colonization and ongoing oppression: losing land, being displaced, facing health impacts and, at worst, dying. First Nations land and title are a primary factor here, and CleanBC and the Climate Change Accountability Act should be brought in line with UNDRIP as mandated by BC’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.[74] The equity foundation applied to CleanBC should be based on engagement with external, community-based experts,[75] and the benefits communicated to affected groups and the general public so that misinformation does not stall progress.

Conclusion

This CleanBC review takes place at an especially critical moment. A combination of factors — the affordability crisis, economic uncertainty, governments’ fiscal positions and the sudden instability of our largest trading relationship — have led governments to reassess a wide range of priorities. Lobbyists in some jurisdictions have seized on this to successfully promote the narrative that the only way to address these issues is to roll back the progress and double down on carbon-intensive economic activity.

BC must not follow suit and abandon our province’s climate leadership. That would be a tragedy for our province’s legacy, for our economic well-being and for the working people at the heart of our economy. Far from offering safety and stability, retrenchment in these industries would mean surrendering BC’s many clean energy advantages and falling further behind in a world that is moving inexorably toward a clean energy future.

Instead, we must be bolder and more ambitious in developing clean, renewable energy. But our efforts can only succeed if working people in this province see themselves front and centre in the plans for change: in the opportunities it will create, in the transition supports it will offer, in the benefits it will deliver. Years of hard experience have taught workers both in urban centres and in rural communities that, in major transitions, the promised benefits end up going mostly to large businesses and the wealthy; instead of being better off, working people find themselves shouldering the burden of disruption and dislocation.

An essential part of this climate work — and arguably the most important — is to demonstrate in tangible, concrete terms how this transition will be different, and that the strategies, investments and supports will be in place to assure all British Columbians of their place in our changing economy. This must be central to CleanBC’s focus, and indeed at the heart of our government’s overall economic approach.