BC Municipalities Back Expansion of Youth Climate Corps to Tackle Energy Poverty and Grow the Green Workforce

Photo: Nicole, a member of the YCCBC Squamish team, air sealing a home, a simple and cost-effective retrofit that improves energy efficiency.

The City of Port Moody, with endorsement from the Lower Mainland Local Government Association, has successfully passed a resolution—EB46: Tackling Energy Poverty and Increasing Workforce Capacity by Working with Youth Climate Corps— at the 2025 Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) Convention.

The resolution calls on British Columbia’s provincial government to expand the Youth Climate Corps of British Columbia (YCCBC) program in order to scale up residential energy retrofits across the province. These retrofits would not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency, but also address energy poverty, an issue affecting up to 1 in 5 Canadian households, where energy costs exceed 10% of household income.

“This resolution sends a strong signal that local governments are ready to scale up youth-led climate action,” said Ben Simoni, Executive Director, YCCBC. “Expanding the Youth Climate Corps means more jobs for young people, more resilient communities, and real progress on climate goals.”

In addition to tackling energy poverty, the resolution highlights the urgent need to grow and train the young workforce, a commitment that is required to meet BC’s climate and housing goals. An expanded YCCBC would offer well-paying, climate resiliency jobs for youth, supporting projects like building retrofits, wildfire mitigation, and ecosystem restoration, all while building long-term workforce capacity.

The motion was endorsed by UBCM delegates during the 2025 convention, reinforcing growing support among local governments for climate workforce solutions that deliver economic and social co-benefits.