This Earth Day, it’s time to construct climate action

Today is Earth Day. Unfortunately, in recent years, it passes with little notice or fanfare. And that’s too bad because all of us have some serious thinking to do about preserving our plant. Earth Day was started in 1970 by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson to mark the birth of the environmental movement and to get the environment on the political agenda. Nelson’s idea caught on. Former U.S. president Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency and the breakthrough National Environmental Protection Act. His actions were a catalyst worldwide. National governments decided the environment was a necessary policy portfolio. Canada appointed its first environment minister—Jack Davis, a Liberal MP from British Columbia—in 1971, and provincial governments followed. Today, people seem to think action against climate change is something to be resolved by government and the oil and gas sector. In reality, it is something to be resolved by all of us. Earth Day should remind us of that. Canada’s Building Trades Unions believe the construction sector can do its part by building buildings differently: hence, starting the "Building It Green" project. Building It Green, funded by the federal government’s Union Training and Innovation Program, was started in 2021. The project aims to collect and analyze the global industry’s best practices to improve skilled trades workers’ education and understanding of their role in constructing and maintaining net-zero projects and to help Canada meet its climate goals. Ever since the Paris Accord was ratified in 2016, CBTU has publicly recognized that the construction sector has a key role to play in getting Canada to net-zero by 2050. We also commissioned a 2017 experts' report that concluded a low-carbon economy could create almost four-million direct building trades jobs by 2050. Buildings are one of three major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. This is why governments see the construction industry as key to meeting climate goals. The Liberals’ recent budget was evidence of this. It doubled funding of the Union Training and Innovation Program, which allows for innovation in skills training, and broadened the scope of the Canada Infrastructure Bank to invest in private sector-led infrastructure projects that will accelerate Canada’s transition to a low-carbon economy. Also included were investments in small modular reactors and a tax credit for Investment Tax Credit for Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage. A breakdown of Canada's emissions profile shows that buildings account for 12 per cent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions, as of 2019. Graph courtesy of Environment and Climate Change Canada Given what we know will be coming, being proactive instead of reactive makes simple business sense—especially at a time when young workers are more likely to be attracted to the building trades if they believe they reflect their values. But just as society in general has had to undergo a transformation about climate change, so do the building trades. We need to be environmentally literate. We need to deliver low-carbon construction. We need to concentrate on being part of the solution. Yet “Red Seal” certification, which every apprentice must pass to attain journey status, has nothing to say about climate change. The Building Trades have been around for over 100 years, and we’ve continually had to adapt to changes in how we build. We’re committed to continuing on this journey to adapt to change and build construction projects to net-zero. The transition to being a low-carbon industry is not just a matter of learning new technical skills. We need to deepen our conceptual understanding of the construction process and acquire flexible, problem-solving capacity. Canada’s construction sector will face significant challenges in the coming years to meet commitments to climate change. It will need to close a gap in ability, capacity and adaptability of the industry to respond to the emerging—and pressing—needs of climate change. The solution is a skills-development strategy that ensures its workforce can successfully deliver low-carbon infrastructure projects. Tradespeople, contractors, architects, and engineers are all a part of the construction ecosystem—all parties need to be part of the solution as we move towards net-zero, and Building It Green is a big part of it. So happy Earth Day from Canada’s Building Trades Unions. And please think about Building It Green and how we can all do our part to get Canada to net-zero. Sean Strickland is Executive Director of Canada’s Building Trades Unions, representing more than 600,000 skilled trades people. The Hill Times