ECO Canada is the steward of Canada’s environmental workforce. They work alongside governments, policymakers, employers, academia, communities, and individuals to propel Canada as a global leader in innovative environmental solutions and talent. Their team provides strategic workforce insights and solutions to grow or advance sustainable careers, programs, and businesses.
ECO Canada delivered a series of net-zero bootcamps championed by industry, as well as bilingual virtual hackathons and career fairs, that aim to attract new sources of talent to Canada’s environmental workforce. The project focused on enhancing students’ post-secondary education with experiential learning and networking sessions hosted in Quebec, Yukon, and PEI and resulted in 380 new WIL opportunities.
The net-zero bootcamps were tailored to the environmental, economic and energy landscapes of each region, and provided an overview of the concept of net zero, its importance, and how it applied explicitly to each region’s industry composition. Additionally, students gained skills and insight to land a job in the environmental and sustainability sectors and beyond.
The virtual hackathons harnessed student creativity and problem-solving to address prevalent industry challenges related to net-zero and emission reduction goals, and included an additional career fair component for students to connect with exhibiting employers and environmental leaders, and attend breakout sessions and masterclasses.
