As climate change prompts economic transition, new MUN course focuses on supporting the workforce

Memorial University is introducing a new graduate-level business and sociology course focused on climate change and sustainable employment relations.

The course aims to equip students with academic knowledge on how to tackle the climate crisis through a clean energy economy transition and how to support workers and communities in the process.

Taught by business and sociology Prof. John Peters, the course is co-hosted by the faculty of business administration and the master of employment relations program and targets students across multiple disciplines.

Peters is teaching the class as a summer school course from May 21 to May 31.

He says the course is important because the transition to a clean energy economy will require millions of new jobs across the economy, including in the energy sector, building construction, transit and agriculture.

"Thinking about how we can create these opportunities is sort of the first step in thinking about a better future," said Peters.

Labour and clean energy

Peters says a skilled workforce is essential to building a clean energy economy. Students will explore how unions will need to protect jobs and how universities will retrain the workforce in the transition.

The course is the result of interest in the issue from professional associations, including the Canadian Industrial Relations Association, which passed a resolution three years ago that says they want to take climate issues and employment more seriously.

Peters also says the course is driven by extreme weather events that have taken place across the world, including forest fires, floods and hurricanes and how workers and communities have responded.

The course has also been inspired by new kinds of initiatives, including Cornell University's Climate Jobs Institute, which teaches workers and unions about new investment opportunities and new jobs.

"It's really about work and about how to create the kind of workers we need for that new economy," said Peters.

WATCH | This student explains why a new climate change course at MUN is a good fit:

New course at MUN tackles climate change and how it relates to sustaining workplaces

4 months ago

Duration 0:44

Graduate students can now take a new course called Climate Change and Sustainable Employment Relations at Memorial University. Matthew Wakeham, one of the 30 students signed up for the course, tells the CBCs Peter Cowan the course fits as he pursues his masters degree in employment relations.

Student Matthew Wakeham, who is working on a master's degree in employment relations, hopes that once he graduates he will be able to use what he has learned to include workers in the transition to clean energy.

"We need to make sure that when we transition, that it's a just transition, so that all of our workers and our communities are included in that," said Wakeham.

A multi-sector issue

Peters says post-secondary institutions have an important role in realizing the professional tools needed to create new opportunities in the clean energy transition.

"We need everybody to work together. This is an all-in-society problem," said Peters.

Student Thelma Okorie, in the final semester of her master's degree in business administration, hopes to work in the project management sector. She says the course will help her learn how to incorporate climate action strategies into business plans.

"I didn't know to what extent I could contribute because I don't work at an oil and gas company," said Okorie. "But this course has made me understand the fact that even if you're not in those organizations, you have a role to play."

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