Alan Young

Feature News

Skills - the global currency of 21st century economies
Skills have become the global currency of 21st century economies. Without proper investment in skills, people languish on the margins of society, technological progress does not translate into economic growth, and countries can no longer compete in an increasingly knowledge-based global society.
Home Energy Management Market Will Surpass $2 Billion in by 2020
May 16, 2012 - Even as deployments of smart grid infrastructure have accelerated in recent years, the once hyped home energy management (HEM) market has struggled to gain traction.
Rethinking the role of government in cleantech
Is it time for a different tune when it comes to government involvement in cleantech, focusing more on enabling the private sector to deploy capital to assume risk in cleantech?
Is The World Ready For Your Innovation?
Our current retail system is set up to sell new products, which are used and then disposed of – very much a linear (and inefficient) process. The Closed Loop system implies that once products are used they can be reconditioned and brought back into the sales loop
Europe`s future depends on cities resilient to climate change
Around three quarters of Europeans live in cities. Most of Europe's wealth is generated in cities, and urban areas are particularly at risk due to climate change.

Alan Young

Executive Director, Canadian Boreal Initiative, Canada

For the last 20 years Alan has worked as a facilitator, planner, analyst and activist with a wide range conservation groups, Aboriginal organizations, companies and governments across Canada. His focus has been on sustainability strategies for the extractive sector which has involved projects throughout North America, Latin America and Europe.

He started his work on these issues In 1991 as coordinator of the joint federal/territorial and Aboriginal government Porcupine Caribou Co-Management Board in the Yukon. From 1994 to 2002, he served as Executive Director of the Environmental Mining Council of BC - a coalition of national, provincial and local conservation groups. In 2002, Alan left EMCBC to form the Materials Efficiency Research Group (www.merg.ca) in order to be able to focus on his interest in bringing different sectors together to build joint solutions to social and environmental issues in the extractive industries. Since 2003 he was work on divers projects including socio-economic impact assessments, large scale conservation strategies, certification programs in the forestry and mining sectors, as well as various legislative reform initiatives in the extractive sectors nationally and internationally. During this time a primary client has been the Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI), where he now serves as Executive Director. CBI is a pan-Canadian multi-sector project addressing issues related to sustainability, conservation and Aboriginal rights.

He currently serves as Chair of the Centre for Science in Public Participation, Vice-Chair of Global Forest Watch Canada and is a member of the Mining Association of Canada's Community of Interest Panel. He is past chair of the Forest Stewardship Council of Canada.