SERIES: PART 3 of 3 When a range of opportunities is on the table, spreading bets can lead to big wins — but success relies on the strategies used. Alberta can hedge across a number of emerging energy and resource sectors, yet the real challenge is where to place those bets to maximize future success. In the   first   and   second   parts of this series we introduced 16 low-emission opportunities and scratched the surface on ways to evaluate them, focusing on the potential si

A lot was on the line back in May of 2024. A small conference room on Tsuut’ina lands to the west of Calgary was filled with...

The Energy Futures Lab is kicking off a year-long celebration of its 10-year anniversary with the announcement of the tenth cohort of...

Driving through central Alberta is quintessential prairie. The big skies, aspen groves, golden wheat fields and sunlit canola crops are...

In the global race to reach net-zero and decarbonize, Canada should be the bookie’s favorite. Long renowned as a nation of both abundant...

Canada has the raw materials and commodities that the world is increasingly desperate for today, and the innovation capital to turn them into the future-fit energy that will be in demand for generations to come. ... Nobody ever said the energy transition would be easy, but few likely imagined it would be this chaotic. In retrospect, it was probably tempting to think that the transition to a low-emission economy could be a gentle and gradual affair. Well, so much for that. Wit

The Energy Futures Lab contributes to a growing battery metals industry The EV Revolution Every so often, humans stumble upon a resource that accelerates our progress in unimaginable ways. With the discovery of fire, we learned to illuminate the world around us, unearthing countless new opportunities. We learned to harness the wind and the sun, we made something of bitumen and natural gas. Each of these discoveries allowed us to move forward in leaps and bounds. But at the he

How can Alberta’s economy continue to attract investment in a net-zero future? Over the last year, great minds in finance, policy, advocacy, and systems change have come together through the Energy Futures Policy Collaborative to answer this question, and Smart Prosperity Institute has been both a participant and an advisor on the process. One key finding has been that decades of extracting oil and gas has given Alberta the tools to excel in other sectors, if the right polici

Innovators . Entrepreneurial. Ambitious. This is how Albertans have long described themselves, a story often centred around our successful development of the oil sands, Alberta’s most consequential bet. But now the province is faced with a difficult question to reconcile: is this who we are or just who we were? This question will be answered one way or the other, whether we respond to it directly or not. Quite simply, some forces are bigger than Alberta. The question we shoul

As members of the Energy Futures Policy Collaborative, we spend a lot of time thinking about the future (it’s right in the name!). One way of thinking about policy is as a stated direction for how we might collectively  be  in the future, alongside the boundaries and incentives that we think might help us get there. To carve out a successful path using policy, we try to imagine and understand what pitfalls and opportunities might be just over the horizon. To help us figure th

A just transition to net-zero won’t be easy and anyone who claims it will be is either kidding themselves or ignoring the complexities of this challenge. The truth is, net-zero by 2050 is a tall order. Pair that with the need to enable a just transition and there’s a challenge spanning whole new heights. But that’s not to say that creating a more inclusive and equitable net-zero future is out of reach. With government and business leaders getting ready to converge in Glasgow

How the federal and Alberta governments can support investment in low-carbon activities that build on Alberta’s strengths Una Jefferson is a Research Associate at the Smart Prosperity Institute. She is a member of the working group for the Energy Futures Policy Collaborative. Albertans think their economy is too dependent on oil and gas, according to  a 2020 poll . Albertan firms are already working on repurposing assets from Alberta’s hydrocarbon industry towards economic ac

We are surrounded by technical achievements — often near-miraculous, even if they may get taken for granted. The electricity grid that delivers a safe, constant and predictable stream of on-demand energy. Communication systems that allow real-time conversations with people on the other side of the earth. Networks of food delivery that allows us to enjoy fresh, safe, and relatively inexpensive produce in all seasons. Each of these ‘miracles’ actually represents a complex syste

This post is part 3 of 3 exploring sustainable finance, bringing together the perspectives of three of our Core Working Group members: Patrycja Drainville (Associate Director, Sustainable Finance, Scotiabank), Chad Park (Vice President, Sustainability & Citizenship, The Cooperators), and Jamie Bonham (Director of Corporate Engagement, NEI Investments) Italian writer and philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli knew a thing or two about power, and his observations have guided politicia

Transition is a sticky word for a lot of people. Add “net-zero” or “pipeline” to the mix and you might even spark a wave of public passion. But emotions are always anchored in something and those relating to Alberta’s energy transition carry no exception. Sure, through the years we’ve talked about net-zero by 2050 but these conversations have often carried an element of speculation. A nice theory, one might say, but how will we get there? While the answer to this question is

This post is part 2 of 3 exploring sustainable finance, bringing together the perspectives of three of our Core Working Group members: Patrycja Drainville (Associate Director, Sustainable Finance, Scotiabank), Chad Park (Vice President, Sustainability & Citizenship, The Cooperators), and Jamie Bonham (Director of Corporate Engagement, NEI Investments) As vaccines pour in across the developed world, jobs are coming back by the thousands to industries and sectors that were hit

This post is part 1 of 3 exploring sustainable finance, bringing together the perspectives of three of our Core Working Group members: Patrycja Drainville (Associate Director, Sustainable Finance, Scotiabank), Chad Park (Vice President, Sustainability & Citizenship, The Cooperators), and Jamie Bonham (Director of Corporate Engagement, NEI Investments) If there was ever any doubt that net-zero finance was the way of the future, former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governo

Alberta’s hydrocarbon sector faced an uncertain future in a world moving towards lower-carbon energy before the pandemic, with existing trends  accelerating  since March 2020. This uncertainty towards the future of the sector offers both risks and opportunities. The province’s rich natural resource wealth and highly skilled workforce have potential to capture a growing share of the clean technology market, and play a pivotal role in reaching climate targets. In order for Albe

Planning for the future is complicated. We don’t know for sure what the future will look like. That means — and forgive me for being a little nerdy here — defining “future fitness” is a  probabilistic  question: we have to assess “fitness” across a range of possible futures. At the same time, the future also isn’t entirely out of our control. Policy choices we make now can influence which futures are more (or less) likely to come to pass. Sound complicated? A new report from

Around the world, countries, corporations, and people are picking up the call for a net-zero future. This global rallying cry is highlighting that we need to do more to reach a lower emissions future and we need to do it at an exponential pace. We cannot close the gap between our reality today, and our aspirations for what is possible, without developing and deploying technologies that both manage our greenhouse gas emissions and add value to our economy. The transition to a