Year One Overview

The mandate of Midwestern Ontario Regional Green Jobs Strategy (GJS) in Year 1 was to develop a comprehensive labour market strategy for growth in the region’s green economy.

The activities and reports for year 1 fell into three categories:

Green Business assessed the needs and opportunities in the green business sector comprising renewable energy, energy efficiency and climate change adaptation. Research was conducted in regional green sectors to form a series of Green Sector Overviews including Biogas, Biomass, Engineering, Geothermal, Micro Hydro, Non Profit, Solar PV, Small Wind and Utility Scale Wind. These sector overviews are of particular interest to Community Futures Development Corporation loan managers, business advisors, and Boards, as well as those interested in entering the sectors. The Green-Business - Year One report and business survey results are of particular interest to business owners, Community Economic Development Corporations and Labour Market Planning Boards.
Green Communities fostered and assisted with the development of green projects at a community level throughout the region. Project areas included community owned renewable energy technology, awareness demonstrations, and a community garden project. Although not all projects resulted in direct jobs, they offered the ability to create awareness of interest and promote the greener thinking that is essential to successful adoption of green ideology within a community. The stream report and case studies are of particular interest to community leaders, groups and citizens.
Climate Change Adaptation identified opportunities for training, skills development and jobs that support the re-building of resiliency in our ecosystems targeting agriculture, forestry, shoreline residents and rural municipal infrastructure. The objective of the Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) stream of the Midwestern Ontario Green Jobs Strategy (GJS) was to determine the types of skills and jobs required to transform our environmental stewardship approach and maintain ecosystems that are healthy and RESILIENT enough to adapt to the growing impacts of climate change. This stream report is of particular interest to landowners, cottagers and municipal and conservation authorities.

There is also an overarching summary for the first year of the project which covers broad based recommendations.