Improving equity in Canada's low-carbon energy workforce: Learning from the lived experiences of diverse applicants to a grassroots bursary

Jaradat, ArwaBlack, RebeccaHoicka, Christina E.2026-01-272026-01-272026https://hdl.handle.net/1828/23076Transitions to low-carbon energy systems require labour market transformations to support resilience, new technologies and infrastructures across communities. Despite rapid growth, the worldwide low-carbon energy sector remains one of the least diverse industries with persistent inequities. Despite steady job growth in the renewable energy sector, women’s overall representation has stagnated since 2019, which indicates the need for new approaches to remove barriers to their entry and retention in the sector. While most existing research on the low-carbon energy workforce relies on structured surveys, aggregate labour market data, or projections, far less is known about the lived experiences and motivations of equity-deserving groups entering the sector. This omission matters because mainstream data often overlooks the qualitative, values-driven perspectives and circumstances that shape career pathways—particularly those of women, newcomers, youth, Indigenous peoples, and LGBTQ+ workers. This study was designed using a co-creation research approach with a grassroots, community-led bursary - Trellis Bursary Fund - to analyze the 119 applications to this fund by an intersectional group of women. These were analysed against a theoretical framework of Alternative Pathways, Strategic Niche Management (SNM), and Feminist and Energy-Justice, to generate insights to improve equity in recruitment and retention in Canada’s low-carbon energy workforce. Our study’s contribution is to provide deeper insight into how small-scale, grassroots, flexible funding mechanisms developed within the communities that they serve can foster novel, justice-centred contributions that mainstream funding often overlooks. These insights offer a critical qualitative narrative-based counterpoint to workforce projections, showing that interest and ambition are not lacking; rather, systemic barriers are constraining entry and persistence of diversity in Canada’s low-carbon energy workforce.enenergy justiceintersectionalityworkforcegender diversityenergy transitionCanadaImproving equity in Canada's low-carbon energy workforce: Learning from the lived experiences of diverse applicants to a grassroots bursaryPreprintDepartment of GeographyDepartment of Civil Engineering