Photo: Maddie Faunt On November 4, 2025, the very same day that the Lab’s first workshop closed a decade earlier, over 150 members of the EFL’s extended network, including founding members of the Lab platform, joined us in Calgary at Bonterra Trattoria for a very special gathering to celebrate the Lab’s 10th Anniversary . Guests attend the 10th anniversary celebration of the Energy Futures Lab | Photo: Maddie Faunt Between rounds of delicious food, drinks, and enthusiastic re

Dear Lab Community, Over the past nine years the Energy Futures Lab (EFL) has been hosting innovation processes and supporting...

By Guest Contributor Matthew Rygus   Gathered together at the beautiful Ampersand building in downtown Calgary, attendees at the Energy Futures Lab 2022 Youth Innovation Jam devoted an entire Saturday to the energy transition. With the intention of driving equitable and sustainable solutions for our world’s energy issues, the event started off on a passionate note with a speech that literally brought tears to eyes. It set the tone for the rest of the event, making it clear th

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

Dear Energy Futures Lab Fellows, Partners & Steering Committee Members, Recent events demonstrate the importance of acknowledging and actively addressing systemic racism. Knowing these traumas are a part of Canada’s social fabric, we invite our community to lean collectively into this grief, discomfort, and moment of witness. We encourage you to reflect on the importance of being open to new ways of being, thinking, and doing. We want to recognize the members of our community

A New Reality Our world is shifting towards a low-carbon economy and the Canadian and global energy marketplace is changing. Many will debate the pace of this shift, but one thing we are certain of is that the shift is happening. Much of this is driven by increasing concerns about our changing climate. A recent study by Canadian federal scientists and academics has warned that Canada’s climate is warming more rapidly than the global average. These shifts and uncertainties ha

Since January 2019, the EFL has welcomed 25 new Fellows and 19 Convening Partners to advance EFL initiatives and launch EFL 2.0, in which we deepen our work in Alberta and explore how to extend the Lab’s lessons and learning at a national level. With the recent report that Canada’s climate is warming at roughly twice the rate of the rest of the world, more than ever, our country requires bold and collaborative leadership. The EFL has created a neutral platform to overcome di

2018: A Good Year Last year was a good year at the EFL. While our team is conscious that there is much to achieve in 2019, let me take a moment to acknowledge a number of accomplishments in 2018. The EFL was recognized as one of the Clean50’s Top 20 projects in Canada for 2018 for its outstanding contribution to clean capitalism. This recognition is grounds for pride in our work and evidence of the unique potential of The Natural Step Canada’s Sustainability Transition Labs

On Tuesday this week, I was interviewed by host Laura Lynch on CBC Radio One’s Vancouver morning show, the Early Edition, for a segment about Alberta. The experience of the interview has me thinking a lot about the challenges we need to overcome in Canada to address energy and climate issues together. The framing for the interview was the recent announcement by Premier Rachel Notley about Alberta temporarily curtailing oil production, set against the messages from this week’s

Amidst the drama of recent pipeline and trade war news, you may be forgiven if you missed another announcement that will be important in shaping Alberta’s economic future. On May 29th, Calgary-based E3 Metals announced that it had reached an important technical milestone that moves it one step closer to being able to extract lithium from oilfield brine. Alberta could become a key supplier of this globally-relevant material on the strength of its petroleum industry. Instead o

The Clean50’s Top 20 projects for 2018 have been announced and the Energy Futures Lab is one of them. The list recognizes outstanding contributors to clean capitalism. Ottawa, ON – September 25, 2017 – The Natural Step Canada is proud to announce that the Energy Futures Lab has been named one of Canada’s Top 20 Projects by the Clean50 Awards for outstanding contributors to clean capitalism. The Energy Futures lab explores this question: How can Alberta’s leadership role in t

For the last few months, the Energy Futures Lab has been in recruitment mode, searching for promising leaders and influencers from across Alberta’s energy landscape to join the EFL Fellowship. We can’t wait to see the ingenuity and energy that the new cohort brings to the EFL Innovation Pathways. Why is the EFL actively seeking new Fellows? Because Alberta and Canada need bold innovators to play a leading role in identifying, testing and scaling creative energy initiatives th

Since its inception in 2015, the Energy Futures Lab has had a primary focus on the development of the Fellowship and the co-creation of collaborative initiatives in the Innovation Pathways. So how can you get involved with the EFL? There are plenty of opportunities – just choose your adventure! Over the course of the almost two years of this work, hundreds of other people have connected to the EFL in one way or another. In this next phase of expansion, the EFL will now be ope

Well, 2016 was quite a year for Alberta. A lingering recession due to low oil prices. Provincial climate policies announced and enacted. A couple of pipelines approved. A dramatic U.S. presidential election and shifting global geopolitics. The EFL Fellows have been the driving force at the centre of this important work, and nothing has been so impressive to me personally as witnessing the abilities and growth of these innovators and influencers, as a group and as individuals.

2016 was a year of change and new realities. 2016 was a year of change and new realities. It ended with national and international developments that will impact Alberta’s energy system for years to come. These include uncertainty looming around the US elections, the continued Alberta recession, the ramifications of pipeline approvals, and the new regulations addressing climate change. Such complex and difficult topics likely made for some contentious Christmas dinner conversa

No one ever said the transition to a new energy economy would be easy. From the very beginning, The Natural Step Canada (TNSC) was under a great deal of pressure to describe the impacts and outcomes of the Energy Futures Lab (EFL). We resisted prescribing a solution. Our Fellowship – more diverse than we could have hoped – has created a shared vision and innovation pathways, generated new ideas, and brought existing initiatives into the lab to amplify and scale. Describing an

Earlier this fall Alberta’s Economic Development and Trade Minister Deron Bilous appointed Gord Lambert to chair a Climate Technology Task Force, which will engage stakeholders and advise the government on a framework for climate change innovation and technology. In addition to supporting research and development and investing in new technology ventures, let’s also create opportunities for the scores of innovators and influencers in Alberta to interact with one another in unp

The May workshop of the Energy Futures Lab (EFL) Fellowship marked an important milestone, as the EFL pivots into a second phase of greater visibility and expanding impact. Deep, effective collaboration is easier said than done, requiring commonality of vision, shared value, and mutual trust. The pivot is partly a reflection of where we’re at in the Lab process and partly inspired by feedback received from EFL Fellows during a mid-point set of interviews conducted in April. I

The January EFL workshop was the first chance for the EFL Fellows to dip their toes into backcasting waters. Backcasting is central to the Lab because it establishes the creative tension between our desired future and the current reality that will drive innovation in the Lab. Backcasting from the science-based principles helps define the system conditions for a sustainable economy and offers us a way to find that common ground. Working toward an energy system that aligns wit