Problem

Canada’s Greener Homes Initiatives, launched in May 2021, sparked an increasing demand for home retrofits across the country.

The programme – which offered grants of up to C$5,000 for eligible home retrofits, C$600 toward the cost of home evaluation, and C$5,000-40,000 in interest-free loans to undertake major renovations that increase energy efficiency – aimed to nudge and help homeowners in upgrading energy efficiency on their properties.

But to ensure that planned upgrades improved energy efficiency and homeowners knew about their options, a trained advisor needed to conduct a pre-retrofit and post-retrofit “EnerGuide” home energy evaluation. As such, energy advisors became a critical component of the initiative.


Responses

To support the programme, among others, Natural Resources Canada began offering skills and training across various clean energy sectors through the Energy Advisor Recruitment, Training and Mentorship campaign.

The programme also aimed to increase the diversity and representation of the existing energy advisor workforce, particularly in favour of Indigenous peoples. It provided CAD10 million over five years to support innovative projects and attract experienced partners, focusing on training and mentorship projects that targeted under-represented groups including women, Indigenous communities, peoples with disabilities, racialised individuals, the LGBTQ+ community, and communities from underserved areas of the country.


Find out more: International Energy Agency