Reflections on COP 21 Outcomes COP 21 is over and the world has agreed to “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.” “Clean energy has passed the tipping point, and its gone mainstream” – The National, CBC Sure, we could focus on the lack of legally binding emissions reductions, but what is important about the Paris Agreemen

This past Sunday I attended briefings and the big announcement about Alberta’s new Climate Leadership Plan. Many friends of the Energy Futures Lab (EFL) were also in attendance – Fellows, partners, and Steering Committee members. I was asked on a number of occasions, “what does this mean for the Energy Futures Lab?” The question arises because the Energy Futures Lab was originally conceived almost two years ago in a vastly different context. The kinds of policy announcements

The Energy Futures Lab (EFL) has announced the names of the Energy Futures Lab Fellows – 40 influencers from industry, NGOs, government, academia, and First Nations communities across Alberta, who will work together over the next three years to help accelerate the transition to a sustainable, resilient energy system. These leaders have come together because they believe that how we tackle the interconnected issues of climate change, energy security and sustainable developmen

We have come together to convene this important initiative because we believe that how we tackle the interconnected issues of climate change, energy security and sustainable development today is key to Alberta’s future prosperity. The issues are so complex that addressing them is not possible unless we are working across traditional organizational and sectoral boundaries. Underlying our collaboration is a shared conviction that Alberta’s strengths and assets in today’s energy

The desire to shape the future, not just cope with it or react to it, is deeply embedded in Alberta’s culture. Alberta has long been at the forefront of discovery and innovation of game-changing solutions in the energy field. Alberta’s work on technological innovations is key to resiliency of our future energy system, but it is not enough. To unlock the full range of energy system transition opportunities, Alberta will have to employ seemingly unconventional strategies and pa

How do you accelerate innovation to an unnaturally high pace? According to Bill Gates, in a provocatively titled We Need an Energy Miracle piece last week from the Atlantic, society needs to ramp up innovation in order to accelerate “a transition to new forms of energy” and avoid running a global 3 or 4 degree climate experiment. His interview raised fascinating questions about the mechanics of how we might go about attempting to drive “innovation ‘at an unnaturally high pac

A blog from Energy Futures Lab Fellow Alex Nnamonu As Alberta begins grappling with the energy challenges of the 21st century, Alex Nnamonu, Executive Director of Major Legislative Project and Strategic Planning at Alberta Municipal Affairs is thinking beyond technology, beyond numbers… “A desirable future is one which is not dominated by “all-or-nothing” thinking, but one which delivers win-win outcomes. Energy Futures Lab is an opportunity, an unusual opportunity for people

Sir Winston Churchill once famously said that we should never let a good crisis go to waste. Never was this truer for Alberta than today. As the reality of sliding oil prices settled in last year, Premier Jim Prentice described the province’s fiscal situation as “the most challenging financial and economic circumstances we’ve seen in our province in a generation.” The Economist magazine recently used a similar turn of phrase when it called on governments around the world to t