Youth Climate Corps BC
ACET and Youth Climate Corps BC (YCCBC) have partnered to advance equitable energy transformation by aligning applied research, youth engagement and workforce development.
The partnership emerged from the Sustainable Jobs in BC workshop co-led by ACET and Pembina Institute in January 2026.
As communities across British Columbia face growing demand for climate and energy solutions, ACET and YCCBC are exploring how workforce development can support community resilience and long-term economic opportunity.
Energy transformation is not only about infrastructure and emissions reductions. It also requires skilled workers, strong local capacity and accessible pathways for meaningful employment.
Youth Climate Corps BC addresses this challenge by creating paid climate-focused job opportunities for young people while helping communities advance climate adaptation, resilience and clean energy initiatives.
ACET is helping to scale and streamline these efforts through evidence-based research and evaluation that can strengthen YCC BC climate workforce programs and inform broader policy conversations across Canada.
Goals
ACET and YCCBC share a commitment to ensuring climate action delivers benefits beyond emissions reductions alone. Together, the two organizations are exploring how climate workforce programs can:
- Create meaningful employment pathways for youth
- Build local capacity for climate and energy projects
- Support equitable participation in the clean economy
- Strengthen community resilience
- Inform scalable climate workforce models
The partnership is built on the recognition that young people are often disproportionately affected by economic insecurity while remaining underrepresented in climate and energy decision-making. Initiatives like YCCBC help ensure youth are directly involved in shaping and delivering energy transformation for a low-carbon future.
By connecting research with implementation, this partnership will translate practical insights into effective and equitable climate workforce development.
Partner Contributions
ACET
ACET contributes interdisciplinary research expertise focused on community energy systems, climate policy and equitable energy transformation.
Through the partnership, ACET supports applied research related to:
- Youth climate employment and workforce development
- Community climate and resilience outcomes
- Program effectiveness and scalability
- Climate workforce policy and program design
The partnership also strengthens ACET’s applied research mandate by grounding research in real-world implementation.
YCC BC
YCC BC contributes implementation experience from one of Canada’s leading youth climate employment programs.
The organization creates paid climate jobs for young people aged 17–30 through community-based projects across British Columbia focused on emissions reduction, ecosystem restoration, climate adaptation and resilience. Participants earn a living wage while gaining experience, leadership development and career readiness training connected to the green economy.
About YCC BC
Youth Climate Corps BC is a workforce development and climate action program that employs young people aged 17–30 on community-based climate projects across British Columbia.
Founded in 2020, the program combines paid employment with leadership development and job readiness training to help participants build careers in the green economy while supporting projects that strengthen community resilience and reduce emissions.
By investing in young people and communities simultaneously, YCCBC is helping build the workforce capacity needed for a fair and low-carbon future.