LINKS:

The West Coast Clean Economy is at:

http://globeadvisors.ca/media/3322/wcce_report_web_final.pdf

B.C.’s Green Economy: Growing green jobs is at a B.C. government website at: http://www.bcge.ca/BCs_Green_Economy_print.pdf

LINKS:

Ontario’s Feed-in-Tariff Program: Two year Review Report is at: http://www.energy.gov.on.ca/docs/en/FIT-Review-Report.pdf, and the Ontario government’s reaction is at Moving Clean Energy Forward at: http://news.ontario.ca/mei/en/2012/03/moving-clean-energy-forward.html

Response by Blue Green Canada to the FIT Review and the legislative debate concerning the Green Energy Act is at: http://www.bluegreencanada.ca/node/127 .

LINKS:

United States Building Energy Efficiency Retrofits: Market Sizing and Financing Models is available at:

LINKS:

Employment in Green Goods and Services 2010 is available at:

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ggqcew.pdf.

Two related websites with technical information about data and definitions:the GGS website at: http://www.bls.gov/ggs/; the U.S. BLS Green Jobs website at: http://www.bls.gov/green/ .

LINKS:

Facing the elements: building business resilience in a changing climate: case studies Report #5 in the NRTEE Climate Prosperity series at:

http://nrtee-trnee.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/cp5-case-studies.pdf

The Green League: How businesses are reacting to the green agenda is at: http://www.siemens.co.uk/pool/news_press/news_archive/2012/greenleaguereport.pdf

On March 7, 2012 the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario released a review of the 2011 Climate Ready adaptation strategy and planning document. The Commissioner states that the plan “represents a significant contribution towards a growing national and international policy movement”. However, he calls for improvements such as prioritizing the actions that are needed, setting specific targets and timelines, identifying dedicated funding, and outlining the responsibilities of key government ministries. He calls on the province to support local and municipal initiatives such as the Community Adaptation Initiative, whose funding ends in March 2012.

LINKS:

Ready for Change? An assessment of Ontario’s climate change adaptation strategy at: http://www.eco.on.ca/uploads/Reports-special/2012-Adaptation/Ready-for-Change-bookmarked.pdf

Climate Ready: Ontario’s Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan, 2011-2014 at: http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/stdprodconsume/groups/lr/@ene/@resources/documents/resource/stdprod_085423.pdf

In February, British Columbia released two strategy documents, fleshing out plans for the natural gas industry which had been previously mentioned in the B.C. Jobs Plan.   The government press release claims that development of LNG will produce approximately $20 billion in new private sector investment, create 800 new long-term jobs in LNG facilities, up to 9,000 more jobs during construction, and thousands of spin-off jobs in transportation, engineering, construction and environmental management.

The B.C. government’s budget speech in late February confirmed that the government will increase the carbon tax as scheduled in 2012, but the tax will be frozen after that while the government conducts a one-year review of the impact on B.C.’s economy, especially on the agricultural sector. The budget press release is at: http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2012/02/budget-2012-focuses-on-a-stable-economy.html.

LINKS:

British Columbia’s Natural Gas Strategy: Fuelling BC’s economy for the next decade and beyond at: http://www.gov.bc.ca/ener/popt/down/natural_gas_strategy.pdf

Liquefied Natural Gas: A Strategy for B.C.’s Newest Industry at:

http://www.gov.bc.ca/ener/popt/down/liquefied_natural_gas_strategy.pdf

Cornell’s Global Labor Institute has released a second report about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Although a comprehensive spills risk assessment for the pipeline hasn’t been conducted, authors Lara Skinner and Sean Sweeney used economic data and interviews to estimate the potential impacts in the six states along the proposed route, and describe how the Kalamazoo River spill in 2010-to date the largest tar sands oil spill in the U.S.-caused significant economic damage.

LINKS:

The Impact of Tar Sands Pipeline Spills on Employment and the Economy is at: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/globallaborinstitute/research/upload/GLI_Impact-of-Tar-Sands-Pipeline-Spills.pdf

The Greener Jobs Alliance is a U.K. advocacy group founded by the Trades Union Congress, University and College Union, Greenpeace, and others. It released a 4-page Green Skills Manifesto in January 2012, which criticizes the 2011 government green skills policy and calls for policies based on equality, just transition, fair and decent jobs. The Green Skills Manifesto is available at: http://www.ucu.org.uk/media/pdf/p/i/Green_skills_manifesto.pdf

A new document released by the OECD on March 15 updates and projects what the environment will be like in 2050. Based on model projections done jointly by OECD and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, it focuses on four areas which were identified as needing urgent attention by an earlier OECD Outlook published in 2008. Chapter 2 discusses socio economic developments, for example highlighting that nearly 70% of the world population will be urban by 2050, magnifying challenges such as air pollution, transport congestion, and waste management. OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050: The Consequences of Inaction is available in various formats and languages from links at:

http://www.oecd.org/document/11/0,3746,en_2649_37465_49036555_1_1_1_37465,00.html

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) released a working paper in March 2012, intended as a foundation for the global guidelines it is developing for forest managers to understand, assess and implement climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. It examines all types of forests (boreal, temperate, and tropical), and includes all management objectives (production, conservation, protection and multipurpose). It includes a section on Socio-economic impacts, as well as a discussion of policy instruments such as the REDD+ and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

LINK:

Forest Management and Climate Change: a literature review. (Forests and Climate Change Working Paper #10) at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/015/md012e/md012e00.pdf

Blue Green Canada recently reported that the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), the Columbia Institute and the Pembina Institute have joined the organization. See the press release at: http://www.bluegreencanada.ca/node/123.