The Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) will deliver decarbonization training to early and mid-career practitioners in the building design and operations fields with the support of a newly announced $7.9 million grant from the Canadian government. Six other organizations nationwide have also received skills development funding tied to the labour demands arising from low-carbon economic drivers.

In total, the package of seven grants will disburse $111.4 million to organizations serving the construction, manufacturing, mining, electricity, renewable energy and agricultural/agri-food sectors, and is expected to underwrite training and/or skills upgrading for more than 22,000 workers. The largest chunk of the funding — $46.5 million — has been allocated to Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology in Hamilton, Ontario, to support training for a range of micro-credential certifications in green skills.

“Through these investments, we are positioning workers for success in the jobs of today and tomorrow,” says Randy Boissonnault, Canada’s Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages.

CAGBC projects that more than 3,000 participants will take advantage of its enhanced training and skills development, which will start rolling out next month and be available until March 31, 2024. The courses will be free of charge and there will be no requirement for previous training in sustainability.

Other grant recipients include: Canadian Skills Training and Employment Coalition; Electricity Human Resources Canada; the Mining Industry Human Resources Council; Iron and Earth, an Alberta-based not-for-profit organization with an interest in transitioning fossil-fuel workers to new career paths; and the TREC Charitable Foundation Relay Education program, which will develop training workshops for solar installation and operations, vertical farming/greenhouse, wind energy and geographic information system mapping for renewable energy.