Nova Scotia youth representative at federal energy conference
Nova Scotia’s youth representative, Kathleen Heymans, is sending us updates this week from the Energy and Mines Ministers’ Conference in New Brunswick.
Not business as usual, Kathleen believes that economic, environmental, and social priorities together drive clean growth and create innovative, vibrant, and resilient societies.
Kathleen works for the Nova Scotia Department of Energy as a Clean Energy Development Policy Analyst. On the Sustainable and Renewable Energy branch, her work focuses on collaborating with the team and external stakeholders to support the development of applications to secure funding for clean energy projects.
Kathleen holds a Bachelor of Science (Biology and Environmental Science) with a Certificate in Environmental Impact Assessment and a Master in Business Administration. Kathleen’s previous work experience has been with environmental non-profits and entrepreneurship and innovation centres.
In advance of the conference, we asked Kathleen some questions about her expectations for meetings with ministers and thoughts on Nova Scotia’s energy future:
What do you want to accomplish in your meetings with the ministers?
“Gain an understanding of provincial and federal priorities and challenges around clean growth and the deployment of clean energy.
My specific areas of interest are:
- how to make energy efficiency and renewables affordable / how to effectively alleviate energy poverty;
- financing innovations for efficiency and renewables;
- how jurisdictions are balancing social and environmental concerns with economic priorities in the mining sector.”
What is your message to those ministers about Nova Scotia energy and young people in the sector?
“Nova Scotia is a leader when it comes to transitioning to a low carbon economy.
Youth have a key role to play in designing a clean growth society. Young professionals bring new perspectives and ideas to the table for solving complex problems, such as how to decouple environmental degradation from economic growth.
In terms of Nova Scotia energy, the province is reducing GHG emissions at a faster rate than anywhere else in the country and is an innovator when it comes to clean technology, especially in tidal power. Nova Scotia is also leading with financing mechanism innovations, such as PACE, to reduce barriers for renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives.”
What would you say to a student thinking about a career in energy?
“Network! Whatever sector you are interested in working — energy or otherwise — making connections and building a network is critical.
My opportunity with Nova Scotia’s Department of Energy was brought to my attention through the networking I did post-graduation. Also, networking gives you a real-world understanding of what happening in the industry.”
