Governments must invest in retraining energy workers during transition: Mark Carney

Now is the time for Canada to invest in recycling to help workers affected by the transition to a greener economy, former Bank of Canada and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said Monday.

“(We need to make sure) that the resources of one country, Canada in this case, can be properly dedicated to retraining, to building the resources of the future, to reinvesting in areas that are experiencing these adjustments,” Carney said. “And now is the time to do it, not somewhere on the edge of a cliff in the road when there is a sharper setting.”

Carney, the UN’s special envoy for climate action and finance, made the remarks at the International Economic Forum of the Americas conference in Montreal. The event will take place this week, less than two months before the next UN climate conference is scheduled to take place in Glasgow, Scotland.

Sustainable finance, or how to use the power of the financial sector’s trillions of dollars in assets to help achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, will be on the agenda at the UN event, known as COP26.

Carney, who also chairs the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, which unites more than 160 banks and asset management companies around the world, wants banks, insurers and investors to commit to ensuring that their investments and loans are aligned with the net zero targets.

He also wants governments participating in COP26 to make climate-related financial disclosures mandatory for the business sector.

As global efforts to combat climate change ramp up, Carney said investors and lenders will need to fund the liquidation of stranded fossil fuel assets in their portfolios.

“There is a time path for various assets that cannot reach the end of their working life, because that would be inconsistent with the overall goal of reaching net zero,” he said.

But while the possibility of immobilized assets is a risk for energy companies around the world as policies are implemented to reduce emissions, that does not mean that there are no capital opportunities for the sector. Carney said he expects the flow of capital to the global energy sector to double over the next 25 years to around $ 4 to $ 5 trillion annually to help companies make the transition to renewables and expand the use of technologies such as carbon capture and storage.

“The financial sector will need to work with companies to raise capital … for those who are going to be part of the solution,” he said.

Thousands of workers in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador have already lost jobs in the oil and gas industry due to consolidation and downsizing. Some business and labor groups say these provinces need federal support to diversify their economies and retrain workers.

Governments must invest in those affected by the energy transition, says #MarkCarney.

The Alberta Federation of Labor, for example, has been pushing for federal support in the range of $ 10 to $ 20 billion per year to help oil-producing provinces and their workers diversify. The labor group would like to see a new federal transfer program that could finance green infrastructure projects, training and internships in the affected provinces.

As part of its federal election campaign, the Liberal Party has proposed a $ 2 billion “Future Funds” program for the three oil-producing provinces to ensure that workers are not left behind while Canada fulfills its commitments against the oil. climate change. The party’s platform contains a promise to create a “Clean Jobs Training Center” to help oilfield workers improve or acquire new skills.

The federal Conservative Party has criticized Liberal leader Justin Trudeau for “ wanting to phase out the (oil and gas) sector and its jobs. ” He says that a conservative government would support workers in the energy sector.

The NDP platform is committed to “ working together ” with the workforce, employers, and provinces to find solutions that could include expanded IE benefits, retraining services, and job placement.

The percentage of Alberta’s workforce that has been unemployed for more than a year is 2.4 percent, the highest long-term unemployment rate in the country (the national average is 1.4 percent).

This Canadian Press report was first published on September 13, 2021.

Reference-www.nationalobserver.com

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