Work With Us

Internship opportunity: Sustainable Living and Economies

The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, is looking for a full-time intern to support the Sustainable Living and Economies efforts. If you are a person interested in gaining job experience in which you can increase your knowledge, expertise and skills in circular economy, food systems, urban approaches and/or sustainable transport, be sure to apply for this opportunity!

Eligibility

The successful candidate will meet the following education, experience, language and competencies requirements:

• Be actively enrolled in an academic institution (e.g., high school, university, etc.) or show experience/interest in circular economy, food systems, urban approaches and/or sustainable transport.
• Excellent command of English, with excellent written and communication skills. Knowledge of Spanish and French is considered an asset.
• Ability to synthesize information and research into a concise summary, with key insights.
• Good organizational, time-management and priority-setting skills.
• Adaptability and flexibility in a dynamic, multicultural environment.
• Ability to work across multiple areas to achieve objectives.
• Candidates must reside and be authorized to work legally in Canada, Mexico or the United States of America.
• For in-person internships: Have the legal right to work in Canada either as a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, student in Canada, or under a work permit.
• For virtual internships: Have access to the Internet and have the required hardware (e.g., laptop). 

Description of tasks and deliverables

Working with the Sustainable Living and Economies Unit under the direct supervision of the Head of Unit, the selected candidate will be expected to perform the following key tasks over the duration of the internship. The main responsibility will be to support the implementation of the programmatic strategy of the Unit.

1. Advancement of priority issues. Support the design and initial implementation of the work plans to advance knowledge and deliverables related to the Unit´s priority issues of phase I of the programmatic strategy, which are: a) Circular economy (general perspective); b) Sustainable transport; c) Urban systems; d) Food systems; e) Trade of species and natural resources; f) Energy efficiency; g) Green finance; h) Economic instruments; i) Plastics; and j) Textiles. For each of these, but particularly for a) through d), the following tasks and deliverables will be included:
   • Develop an initial compendium of concepts and definitions that are relevant to the priority topic.
   • Develop a general account of past CEC work on each of the priority topics.
   • Support in the identification and prioritization of key actors and forums related to each of the priority topics (including government)— who is working on these topics; what and where are they talking about it.
   • Define a proposal to monitor priority actors and forums and to increasingly establish links with them to create mini-networks that will be fundamental for monitoring the conversation; increase our knowledge and identify potential synergies and opportunities for joint action.
   • Strengthen or develop the general understanding of each of the priority topics—what is it; what is its general state in our region; who are the main key actors; what are the current issues, concerns, challenges, flags and priorities being talked about, etc.
   • Support the coordination of exchanges (meetings of experts; workshops, webinars, etc.) to further advance the knowledge/understanding of the topic, specifically for the CEC–North America context.
   • Support the identification of regional needs regarding these topics, as well as possible cooperative actions that the countries could undertake to address the topic from a regional perspective (gradually supported by the mini-networks of experts and forums).
   • Contribute to the development of sound advice and proposals for future cooperative work for the region.

2. Information resources. Support the design and development of diverse information resources for the unit and the CEC audiences. The following tasks and deliverables will be included:
   • Support the development of information services (brochures, graphs, cards, social media, posters, etc.) to raise awareness and highlight CEC resources related to the unit´s scope of work and particularly those beyond the scope of current projects.
   • Support the holistic improvement of the webpages under the Unit´s responsibility.
   • Contribute to the development of presentations and reports regarding the programmatic work of the unit.
   • Assist in addressing specific external information requests related to the Unit´s programmatic work and priorities.

3. Cross-cutting engagement and other programmatic support. Support the general implementation of the Unit´s mandate and the strengthening of coordination and engagement with other CEC units, particularly as related to the following:
   • Support the continuous review of the current institutional, legal and political arrangements of the CEC context and advise on adjustments to the Unit´s programmatic strategy that could be needed.
   • Strengthen research on conceptual frameworks for programmatic work related to the unit´s mandate.
   • Support the unit´s engagement with CEC cross-sectoral strategies—i.e., identify and pilot-test specific actions and opportunities to advance cross-sectoral principles in the core work of projects.
   • Contribute to other duties as required.

The primary point of contact and supervision for this internship will be Armando Yáñez Sandoval, Head of Sustainable Living and Economies.

Remuneration

This is a paid internship.

Intern’s participation will be remunerated C$25 per hour for 30 hours per week.

Application process

Interested candidates should submit their CV/résumé, along with a short statement of interest (2–3 paragraphs) stating their expertise or skills related to the internship, and alignment with the values and objectives of the CEC, to clopez@cec.org by 20 October 2025, 11:59 PM ET.

No phone calls or email message inquiries will be accepted.