Children and youth’s resilience in the context of energy resource production, climate change, and the need to transition to low-carbon goods and services

Dr. Cox et al. received Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council funds for a systematic review and synthesis of youth and the transformation of energy systems due to climate change.

The future of energy resource extraction, especially carbon-intensive options such as natural gas and oil, present a major challenge for global economic and social sustainability. There is a global recognition of the role that the extraction and use of energy resources has in contributing to carbon emissions and carbon climate change. As a result, many countries, including Canada, are working to transform energy systems (extraction, production, consumption) and the complex social and economic systems related to energy production and consumption. This transition to forms of low- or no-carbon energy alternatives (e.g., wind, solar, tide) and low-carbon good and services (LCGS) based economies are a priority for industry stakeholders as well as part of the Canadian government’s sustainable development goals (NRT, 2012) and the National Adaptation Strategy (2023). Such a transformation will require a paradigm shift in the sourcing, extraction, processing, and delivery of energy resources, in a way that minimizes negative impacts on communities while also supporting sustainable economic development and individual and collective resilience. Children (ages 0-14) and youth (15-24) emerge as key population groups that are impacted by energy resource development and global energy choices (e.g., UNICEF, 2013). Today’s children and youth will live and work through the challenges of energy transitions and climate change. In some regions of Canada (and globally) they are already contending with the direct impacts of natural resource extraction on their functioning (e.g., Goldenberg et al., 2010) and the functioning of their communities and physical environments (EPA, 2015). Despite this, children and youth are noticeably absent from the social science literature on natural resources, energy research, and are typically excluded from impact assessments and national development plans and policies (Assad et al., 2009; Goldenberg et al., 2010). Children and youth are potentially powerful actors in developing and implementing the energy transition in Canada and globally. It is important not only to understand the social dimensions of energy systems for children and youth, but also their potential roles as energy resource innovators and contributors to the resilience of their communities and to society.

The Imagining Canada’s Future foresight initiative highlights: a) the need for sustainable resilient communities; and b) creativity, innovation and prosperity, as two of the four enduring issues that are central to all six future challenge areas. To address these two central issues, the Resilience by Design (RbD) Lab at Royal Roads University (RRU) and the Resilience Research Centre (RRC) at Dalhousie University collaborated in this SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis Grant. Led by Cox, the team conduct a systematic interdisciplinary review and synthesis (i.e., using a critical interpretive analysis) of extant social science and behavioural science research in order to describe the current state of knowledge, identify critical gaps, and highlight effective policies and practices related to: the socio-economic dimensions of energy resource systems and the energy transition; the biological, psychological and social (biopsychosocial) impacts of energy systems on children and youth and their vulnerability, resilience and adaptive capacity; and effective policy and practices of energy resource extraction and production that foster community resilience and the resilience children and youth. The synthesis also examined research on strategies for engaging and empowering children and youth as leaders, innovators, and change makers. Canadian and global contexts were examined. The synthesis offered some recommendations for future directions for research focused on children and youth within the energy transition, and their roles as citizens and potential leaders in the shift to a LCGS economy. Knowledge mobilization outputs included a peer reviewed article, lay-summaries, and other knowledge products tailored to youth, industry, non-governmental organizations, and policy-maker audiences.