"The green economy is huge. It's not something that's futuristic. It's not something that's coming down-the-pipe. It's here already."
And it's that fact, says Stewart Chisholm, program director of
Evergreen CityWorks, that motivated Evergreen to release its latest report
The Ontario Green Jobs Map. The report, which Evergreen CityWorks released in partnership with
ECO Canada, examines the present, and future, of Ontario's green job market.
The report comes as a follow-up to ECO Canada's national report
The Canada Green Jobs Map, released in October of 2012.
"When we heard about the national study being undertaken we saw an opportunity, through our partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, to commission a more specific Ontario component," explains Chisholm.
"We saw this as a great opportunity to dig deeper into the Ontario context because we didn't have the resources to commission a standalone study. The Ontario piece uses the same methodology as the national study, but goes into more depth then the national study in terms of looking at the specific Ontario context."
The Ontario report outlines both the largest clusters of so-called "green jobs" in the province, as well as identifying the particular areas of the green economy where Ontario has the most potential to grow.
By giving real-time information on Ontario's competencies in the green economy, the report allows Evergreen Cityworks to better tailor their programming to the needs of Ontario job-seekers and entrepreneurs.
"For people looking to find employment in the green economy, it provides some very preliminary ideas of what kinds of skills might be needed as they move into that area," says Chisholm. "It provides a foundation for our program… so, for example, we have a youth internship program and we will use the results of the report as we move forward with that so the skills people are learning in our internship program are aligned with the skills identified in the study."
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Stewart Chisholm