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Your own company may be committed to closing some of your performance gaps on sustainability. Your company may even be staking new frontiers in sustainability. But, you can’t solve sustainability challenges acting alone. This is work that requires integration and collaboration. You know that business as usual isn’t possible for an energy company operating in Alberta. You have opened up conversation with people inside your company who, like you, are curious about what sustainability means to your organization in a carbon-reduced world, and together, you have uncovered the undiscussed thinking of people in your own company. You may even be thinking about how to set new sustainability frontiers for your company. Congratulations, you have rescued the frog from the boiling waters. Now, what? Tackling sustainability—and any complex, even wicked problem—cannot be done in a silo. Your own company may be committed to closing some of your performance gaps on sustainability. Your company may even be staking new frontiers in sustainability. But, you can’t solve sustainability challenges acting alone. This is work that requires integration and collaboration. So, who are you going to call? Who do you want to talk to about your company’s sustainability actions and aspirations? Often, energy companies have longstanding relationships with local communities where they operate. And, you may have other trusted stakeholders you would choose. It’s helpful to sketch a rough map of your external stakeholders, like a mind map, to get a sense of all the various issues and points of view that could, hypothetically, be integrated into your sustainability strategy. To get started, let’s use the example of a trusted community to explore how to open up your company’s internal dialogue on sustainability to outside perspectives. An Alberta-based energy company will have lots of communities, inside the province and beyond. In relation to a particular project, an individual community could be described in many ways: An entire region, for example, “the Duvernay” Those within a predetermined geographic radius from drilling operations and gathering pipeline rights of way Selected groups of populations, for example, “First Nations youth along the pipeline right of way” As your starting point, choose a community where you have trusted relationships. Define that community, clearly. Then think about the promises made to this community, by your company, which in some way reflect your company’s commitment to sustainability. Where will you find your company’s promises? Start by looking in your Annual Report, in press releases, in local notices to communities about specific projects. With this list of promises in mind, think about how your company acts on these promises. Your organization’s relationship with a community is likely to have many layers, as individual divisions and departments will engage with a community in different ways: Your company’s Operations department may be very reassuring to local communities when responding to a citizen query about gas flaring. But, the drilling team may not be fully aware of other construction projects happening in the same area, and the cumulative impacts to locals. Your Environment, Health and Safety managers may hire local contractors in a field operation who don’t have the authority to interpret the company’s guidelines, requiring a back-and-forth between head office and the local community that distorts clear communication and delays problem solving. Your Public Relations team may want to keep a low profile on this oil and gas development project, especially with all the angst about pipeline construction in Canada. The lawyers in your Regulatory and Government Relations groups may want to stick to compliance with the laws and contracts–nothing more, nothing less. With this information gathered, let’s go back to A Measure of Integrity. You have a good sense your company’s commitment to “sustainability” . You have talked with others on the inside of your company about how to close performance gaps and maybe even championed the idea of upping your sustainability game. Now it’s time to reach out to people you trust, and invite their perspective on your company’s sustainability promises, actions and aspirations. A companion tool, to help you with this outreach, is A Measure of Integrity Scorecard. Using the scorecard, ask trusted people in your selected community these two questions: Where do you see our company’s level of commitment to “sustainability” on this scale? Where would you like to see our company’s level of commitment to “sustainability” on this scale? Question #1: If your community’s response to the first question shows gaps between your company’s level of commitment to “sustainability” and the community’s perception of your commitments, you may well have a performance gap. For example, if your company makes promises, beyond compliance with laws and rules, at level +4 on A Measure of Integrity, yet citizens in a local community see your company’s promises and actions at a minimum compliance threshold (level +2 on A Measure of Integrity), your company likely has a serious performance gap that needs to be closed. Question #2: If your community’s response to question #2 shows gaps between your commitment to sustainability (for example, at level +4 on A Measure of Integrity) and the community’s expectations (for example, at level +6), you may have opened up the space for a dialogue about what sustainability targets are feasible in relation to a particular project, and you may even be able to explore opportunities for collaboration on achieving these aspirational targets. As you progress these dialogues with trusted stakeholders, make sure you have all the people you need at the table, including your internal people. It may be easy for a company CEO to make a top-down declaratory commitment to ambitious sustainability targets. Walking the talk will require aligned action by your company’s employees. Be on the lookout for your corporate laggards and lightning rods! Too often, one laggard department can tarnish the credibility of your whole company. And sometimes, one over-zealous manager, making unrealizable promises, can confuse or mislead people in your communities. Opening up the space for this conversation with trusted community stakeholders has an added bonus. Many companies invest in host communities, to comply with laws or voluntarily. Use the Community Investment Strategy Tool to talk about how your company fosters sustainability targets through investment in that community: Investments made to comply with regulatory and contractual commitments – for example, paying municipal taxes, funding on site air and water quality monitoring equipment and servicing Voluntary investments in infrastructure upgrades or capacity building initiatives – for example, implementing safety training programs for local citizens, upgrading bridge crossings on the public roads used in operations Philanthropic investments—for example, setting up a wildlife protection fund or scholarships for local youth Take advantage of this opportunity to make sure your company’s community investment strategies, and dollars, are aligned to the community’s sustainability priorities. #Culture_Shift #2016 #Sustainable_Finance

Integrating outside points of view into your company’s sustainability strategy

Your own company may be committed to closing some of your performance gaps on sustainability. Your company may even be staking new frontiers in sustainability. But, you can’t solve sustainability challenges acting alone. This is work that requires integration and collaboration. You know that business as usual isn’t possible for an energy company operating in Alberta. You have opened up conversation with people inside your company who, like you, are curious about what sustainability means to...

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In this three-part blog series, Donna provides practical advice on how to begin the sustainability planning discussion in your organization, with your stakeholder communities and with the critics. She will provide tools to accompany each blog post to assist you, as an intrapreneur, in applying the learnings. As a corporate insider, you are no doubt noticing the radically different market reality. And, you want to support your organization’s targeting and pursuit of new sustainability frontiers and strategy. In the past year I have spoken to thousands of Albertans. There is no denying it. Alberta is midst of a major energy transition that is impacting families and communities. Nowhere is this being felt more than in the province’s boardrooms. Sustainability is, more than ever, a strategic imperative. As a corporate insider, you are no doubt noticing the radically different market reality. And, you want to support your organization’s targeting and pursuit of new sustainability frontiers and strategy. You want to rescue the boiling frog, pulling your organization from the culture and ineffective strategies that puts its future at risk. But how? Let’s start by recognizing you need to build a space for a conversation. The best place to start is connecting with your organization’s insiders— fellow employees and contractors—to explore how people understand your company’s commitment to “sustainability”. Ultimately, you will want to look beyond internal stakeholders, to your supply chain, communities and even critics. But, let’s start with the insiders. For most energy companies in Alberta, “sustainability” is a core value. It may even be included in your corporate strategy. This word, “sustainability”, means a lot of things to a lot of people. In the market chaos we’re experiencing, “sustainability”, to some, may even refer to the very survival of the company itself. With a clearer focus on carbon, Alberta’s companies, more than ever, need people who can take on the challenge of defining “sustainability” in ways that inspire the corporate culture and strategies needed to innovate better ways to develop and use non-renewable energy. You may be one of those people with the motivation and skills to initiate a non-threatening conversation about what “sustainability” means, and could mean, in your company. There is already more than enough market uncertainty and personal anxiety! What we’re suggesting are ways you can safely initiate this discussion, without threatening decision-makers or undermining your co-workers. We want you to be a catalyst for positive change—not a spent enzyme. So, how can you begin? Let’s start by checking out your organization’s values. What does your organization say about “sustainability”, and what does that commitment really mean, today? A Measure of Integrity is a tool I’ve used with great results and I’m recommending, to help you understand how your organization is approaching its commitment to this value of “sustainability”. Take a look at the levels on A Measure of Integrity. Think about your organization’s reasons for committing to “sustainability”, the ways you talk about that value, and your actions: If your organization is motivated to commit to the value of “sustainability” to comply or strictly comply with rules and laws (e.g. pay carbon taxes; comply with federal, provincial and municipal rules about handling water, waste, the environment, etc.), and you spend a lot of time with lawyers and regulators making sure you understand the rules and comply, your organization may be approaching this commitment to “sustainability” at level +1 or +2 of the scale. Or, is your organization focused on honouring the value of “sustainability” beyond compliance with laws and rules, as part of your company’s strategy of acting responsibly and doing no harm? This may mean your organization is committed to act sustainably at level +3 or +4 of the scale. If your organization wants to make a positive social and environmental return on investment, maybe even thinking about your role in a project after the project is completed or considering the impacts for future generations, you may be approaching this undertaking at the highest levels of the scale. You may not be able to exactly pinpoint where your organization’s commitment to “sustainability” lands on A Measure of Integrity. But you can get a pretty good idea. Mac Van Wielingen, founder of ARC Financial Corp., explores how companies look at sustainability in an excellent Conference Board of Canada report: Companies focus on different aspects of sustainability—financial sustainability (through all market cycles); organizational sustainability (through leadership cycles); relational sustainability (with all stakeholders); industry sustainability (with regulators and industry associations); the sustainability of the communities within which we and our employees live, and environmental sustainability. In all of these aspects, Van Wielingen notes that the focus is on sustainability as the opposite of short-term-ism. You may also be able to see gaps—especially gaps between your organization’s commitments to “sustainability” and how your actions reflect that strategic mandate. You may even have ideas about how your organization could close some of those gaps, or ideas about what limits your ability to close the gaps. So, how is your deepened understanding of your organization’s commitment to “sustainability” going to help? With greater acumen, you can listen more deeply, ask more constructive questions and make more discerning choices. You have a better chance of pulling that boiling frog from the churning water! When it’s time to talk to others in your company about your observations, keep it constructive. Who can you seek out to explore your organization’s approach to “sustainability” in more depth? Is there an existing group or committee responsible for managing aspects of “sustainability” performance or reporting? Is “sustainability” part of your over-arching corporate strategy, to describe ‘how’ you implement your mission and vision? How does “sustainability” surface within your own department’s mandate? And take time to define the upside of this “sustainability” tweaking or leaping: Tweaking: What refinements in how your organization’s “sustainability” talk and walk could improve your organization’s reputation, credibility, and resiliency, reduce litigation risk, and restore confidence? Leaping: And, what higher sustainability targets will improve your organization’s competitiveness, access to capital and build trust? If sustainability becomes part of your organization’s strategic imperative, you will have to focus on ‘how’ to walk that talk. Finally, remember, you are someone who is comfortable with change. Most people are not. The majority of people in an organization will wait to see the outcome of your efforts. As the Permeation of Change Model attests, look to people, like yourself, intrapreneurs who are comfortable with change even in the absence of rules, and to others who are interested, but who may need to see some implementation parameters and process before participating. In fact, if you don’t reach out to others during this transition, your company will likely lose fellow change leaders. So you are addressing both needs – having the conversations to shape clearer sustainability commitments and new frontiers for your organization and engaging those who will leave your organization if you don’t have that conversation. As a change leader, sustain yourself with new inspiration and resources. I highly encourage you to follow the developments of the Energy Futures Lab. It is here where leaders from across government, oil and gas, renewables, first nations and non-governmental organizations are grappling with the same challenges you are facing. #Culture_Shift #2016 #Sustainable_Finance

Donna Kennedy-Glans: Rescuing the Boiling Frog

In this three-part blog series, Donna provides practical advice on how to begin the sustainability planning discussion in your organization, with your stakeholder communities and with the critics. She will provide tools to accompany each blog post to assist you, as an intrapreneur, in applying the learnings. As a corporate insider, you are no doubt noticing the radically different market reality. And, you want to support your organization’s targeting and pursuit of new sustainability...

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“You learn more about a person in an hour of play than a year of conversation.” – Plato If you look at other human-made systems such as healthcare, agriculture, fishing, clothes manufacturing, mining, transportation, etc. you can see they’re all in transition. In the end, these transitions will rely on sparking the most difficult change of all: human behaviour. It will require a deeper systemic understanding. It was silent in the room and the windows were fogged. Twenty-two slightly bewildered faces stared back at me. We had just played our energy transition role playing game, The Newtonian Shift, for the first time with the leadership team of the Eneco Group, an innovative Dutch energy utility company. After four hours of dynamic game play, the silence gave participants time to make sense of what happened. I hesitatingly opened the conversation: “And…how are you all doing?” “I’m surprised by how much this experience feels like real life in our organization,” one participant shared.” I had the Accounts Manager role, which allowed me to negotiate and make deals with other players. But in the second round, my clients created their own energy for a much lower price and were selling it. They even asked me if I wanted to buy energy from them! It was like the world turned upside down. I feel like this in real life too. With all these industry changes, it’s hard for me to find my place. Another player joined in: “I took the opportunity to play as ‘Boogle’ (aka Google) in the game. In this role, I could really disrupt the energy system and I took that opportunity,” he smiled from ear-to-ear. “I deliberately put people out of business that belong to the same industry as we do in real life.” “It helped me realize that if we don’t start collaborating with these disruptive organizations to change our existing business models, we won’t be around much longer.” This conversation went on for a long time, creating a mutual sense of urgency to address market and resource issues, and fueling a conversation that is still happening in their company. The game quickly prompted new questions, presented different perspectives, and sparked creativity. It created a level of conscious incompetence, highlighting gaps, so organizations could make plans and develop ideas to change patterns, behaviours, and leadership. If the game could have this impact on a company, could it also inspire and influence an entire system? In 2015, Cheryl DePaoli, Alberta Real Estate Foundation ED, connected us with The Energy Futures Lab. The EFL is dedicated to the same principles as we are: new ideas, moving beyond polarization to build empathy, and fostering collaboration. We learned that when it comes to the energy system, Albertans were asking big questions, dealing with great challenges, and needed new methods. Our initial encounter with the EFL was also at the time of the Alberta election, where the NDP won by a landslide, changing the political landscape in the province. We couldn’t ask for better timing. The Eneco Group, commissioned my company, Fresh Forces, to create this game in 2013. They wanted an experience that brought the energy transition closer to the hearts and minds of their 7,000 employees. It did this remarkably well, and became a catalyst for many other energy transition related initiatives within Eneco, co-created by Fresh Forces, including a new performance management program, creative team sessions, an innovation battle, and a leadership development program. The game provided a space to explore a new energy narrative. It seemed changes in the energy sector were only being communicated in media headlines and academic papers, with numbers, graphs, and charts. And, too often, the tone reflected the old human habit of blame and shame: it was always the fault of corporations, consumers, the government, or another particular group. We wanted the game to go beyond a circular debate and pointing fingers. It needed to increase understanding and empathy, acknowledging that successful collaboration requires trust. Gaming is no panacea, but it’s an important tool to access a deeper level of understanding. We played many times with teams and departments within the Eneco, before joining forces with the utility company to bring the game to organizations in Europe and North America, including Alberta with the EFL. Together, we adapted the game to better resemble Alberta’s energy system, including an oil company responsible for tar sand extraction and a First Nations community. It has been played with the Fellows a few times now and is ready to be played within their partner organizations. Fresh Forces and the EFL also facilitated the game during GLOBE 2016 in Vancouver, with a diverse mix of participants working in energy systems across the world. One of the founding fathers of gaming and simulation for organizational change, Richard Duke, wrote a groundbreaking book called: Gaming: the Future’s Language. Having worked intensely with gaming and simulation for over ten years now, I believe this future has arrived. If you look at other human-made systems such as healthcare, agriculture, fishing, clothes manufacturing, mining, transportation, etc. you can see they’re all in transition. In the end, these transitions will rely on sparking the most difficult change of all: human behaviour. It will require a deeper systemic understanding. Collaboration will become increasingly important as we fall back on our tendencies to blame and shame. We will have to embrace that we are all in this together. So we might as well show compassion and work with one another. And beyond the important function gaming and simulation plays in systems change, how cool, liberating, and fun is it to just PLAY with each other? ——- Join the EFL and play The Newtonian Shift on May 26th. #Culture_Shift #The_Newtonian_Shift #2016

Playing with a New Perspective: The Newtonian Shift

“You learn more about a person in an hour of play than a year of conversation.” – Plato If you look at other human-made systems such as healthcare, agriculture, fishing, clothes manufacturing, mining, transportation, etc. you can see they’re all in transition. In the end, these transitions will rely on sparking the most difficult change of all: human behaviour. It will require a deeper systemic understanding. It was silent in the room and the windows were fogged. Twenty-two slightly...

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Our Energy Futures Lab Fellows, Convenors, Steering Committee, Advisory Council, Sponsoring Partners and The Natural Step team have deep roots in Alberta. So many of our family, friends, and colleagues are deeply impacted by the wildfires in Fort McMurray and surrounding regions. We are distressed by the number of displaced residents and damage that has been done to the area. And we are heartened by the news that there have not to date been reported injuries. As one Fellow expressed, “The absence of serious injury or fatalities is a true reflection of how safety conscious the city already is. The cooperation and responsiveness of others truly reflects the heart of all Albertans.” Alberta’s character and resilience is evident everyday, but even more so at this moment. We’re inspired by the solidarity, as companies provide shelter and transportation and residents open their homes. The EFL community would like to express its heartfelt sympathies and support to the residents of Fort McMurray and to each other: to everyone whose families, friends and employees are affected and who have expressed their deep concern to us in the last few days. Many of you know that the EFL team was to be hosted in Fort McMurray next week for our next Fellows workshop and learning journey. We had an exciting schedule that involved meeting many people in the community. We are very disappointed that this week’s tragic events mean this will not happen now. Our thoughts and hopes will be with residents in Northern Alberta as we gather in a different location next week. Today, Prime Minister Trudeau announced that the Federal Government will be matching donations to Red Cross Canada for Fort McMurray. Please consider donating here. #Culture_Shift #Regional_Pathways #Fellowship #2016

A Message From The Energy Futures Lab to Fort McMurray

Our Energy Futures Lab Fellows, Convenors, Steering Committee, Advisory Council, Sponsoring Partners and The Natural Step team have deep roots in Alberta. So many of our family, friends, and colleagues are deeply impacted by the wildfires in Fort McMurray and surrounding regions. We are distressed by the number of displaced residents and damage that has been done to the area. And we are heartened by the news that there have not to date been reported injuries. As one Fellow expressed, “The...

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The first time I heard the term “Learning Journey” I had a little trouble taking it seriously. I mean, we’re talking about field trips, right? Well, sort of. If they are field trips, then they’re field trips with a very specific and important function in the lab process. What makes the trip even more timely is the fact that Fort McMurray is reeling from of the fall in oil prices, laying bare aspects of the community that represent seeds of resilience in the face of adversity. Next month the Energy Futures Lab Fellows will travel together to Fort McMurray, the epicenter of oil sands development, a symbol of economic opportunity, and a lightning rod for criticism of the industry. But Fort Mac is a community, and no community is as one-dimensional as the common caricatures of Canada’s most famous, or infamous frontier town. The fellows will soon experience the reality firsthand. Of course, each of the fellows is an expert on some aspect of Alberta’s energy system, and as such, this will not be the first trip for many of them. Whether they’ve been (or in some cases even lived there) or not, each fellow is guaranteed to experience dimensions of Fort McMurray that they haven’t before. In smaller groups, they will see the footprint of the oil sands from the air, tour an oil sands mine and visit Ft McKay to engage with a variety of community members affected in different ways by oil sands development. Others will visit social service organizations including shelters, employment agencies, food bank, and engage in dialogue with Mayor Melissa Blake. Others will tour a local First Nations owned and operated company, engage with the Regional District, the local business community, and the region’s Social Prosperity road map. ______ Organizing a trip for 40 people to do so many different things is a logistical feat. It isn’t cheap and it isn’t easy, so it wouldn’t be happening if it weren’t important. So why are we doing this? What is so important about taking the fellows to Fort McMurray or including learning journeys in the lab process at all? To experience the real effects of transition in communities where it is already underway. In Fort McMurray, the Fellows will gain a better understanding the real-life implications of energy transition in a community that is heavily dependent on oil and gas, and these lessons will apply across Alberta. What makes the trip even more timely is the fact that Fort McMurray is reeling from of the fall in oil prices, laying bare aspects of the community that represent seeds of resilience in the face of adversity. The major shifts in energy systems that we all sense coming have real-life consequences in the lives of actual people living in these communities, and the Fellows will do well to understand these realities as they work to craft a new transition story for Alberta’s energy future. To understand in what ways the current system does not match our desired future. In many ways the Energy Futures Lab approach to learning journeys takes its cue from REOS Partners Social Labs. As pioneers in the field of system-shifting labs, REOS has been using learning journeys for years to “develop a shared, grounded understanding of the system they are trying to influence.” What sets an EFL learning journey apart is that it follows on February’s backcasting workshop where the fellows began articulating a shared vision of their desired energy future for Alberta. This emphasis on understanding the current state of a system in relation to where we want to be in the future is key to developing the creative tension that drives innovation. To build the relationships that move innovation forward. EFL is about bringing leaders from across Alberta’s energy system together to build partnerships and launch initiatives that would never have happened otherwise. But you can’t just put a bunch people who have never met into a room and expect great things. We all know from experience that relationships are key to the best collaborations. Learning journeys play an essential role in building relationships among the fellows by providing shared experiences and opportunities to get to know one another outside of the office. The fellows are finding common ground that may not have been there before. ______ Alberta’s energy system is incredibly complex, and the best way for the Fellows to understand its many dimensions as well as possible is to explore the reality on the ground. Visiting the system is intended to pull these experts out of their habitual thinking patterns and assumptions, leading to insights that couldn’t have happened otherwise. If our goal is to shift a system, it is crucial that our understanding of that system is grounded in experience and the reality faced by people living it, not just theory. #Culture_Shift #Regional_Pathways #Fellowship #2016

Learning journeys: More than just a fancy field trip?

The first time I heard the term “Learning Journey” I had a little trouble taking it seriously. I mean, we’re talking about field trips, right? Well, sort of. If they are field trips, then they’re field trips with a very specific and important function in the lab process. What makes the trip even more timely is the fact that Fort McMurray is reeling from of the fall in oil prices, laying bare aspects of the community that represent seeds of resilience in the face of adversity. Next month the...

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Part Three: Opportunities for Alberta’s Energy Future Following last month’s GLOBE Conference in Vancouver, Energy Futures Lab Director Chad Park caught up with two members of the Energy Futures Lab Advisory Council, Tzeporah Berman and Toby Heaps, both of whom had important roles at GLOBE and its surrounding events. The following is part three of the three-part discussion and focuses on specific considerations and opportunities for Alberta’s energy future. Part one explored some of the big international developments that Tzeporah and Toby believe are changing the playing field for the global energy system, while part two focused on infrastructure and policy to guide energy transition. Toby Heaps is the CEO and Co-Founder of Corporate Knights, CK Capital and the Council for Clean Capitalism. He spearheaded the first global ranking of the world’s 100 most sustainable corporations in 2005, and in 2007 coined the term “clean capitalism.” He sits on the Sustainability Accounting Standards Advisory Board and the University of Toronto’s Environment and Finance Committee. He is also is a member of the Advisory Council for the Energy Futures Lab. Tzeporah Berman BA, MES, LLD (honoris causa) has been designing environmental campaigns and working on environmental policy in Canada and beyond for over twenty years. She is an Adjunct Professor of York University Faculty of Environmental Studies and works as a strategic advisor to a number of First Nations, environmental organizations and philanthropic foundations on climate and energy issues. Tzeporah co-chairs a small oil industry/ENGO problem solving forum in Alberta on oil sands policy and was appointed last year to the BC Government Climate Leadership Team. She is a member of the Advisory Council for the Energy Futures Lab and is the former co-director of Greenpeace International’s Global Climate and Energy Program and Co-founder of ForestEthics. Chad: Both Tzeporah and Toby are recognized leaders on the global stage in their respective areas of expertise – Tzeporah as a prominent environmental activist and Toby as an expert and advocate in the role of capital markets and institutional investors in sustainable development. They each have strong personal ties to Alberta and also bring a global perspective. Whether or not we agree with all of their views, I believe it is important to consider this perspective as the Energy Futures Lab ponders how Alberta will position itself and evolve in the rapidly changing global energy system. Chad: Let’s talk about Alberta. You both know it’s pretty challenging times here and so I guess the first question is, what would be your message in light of everything we’ve just been talking about to Albertans generally and then specifically to the innovators and influencers who make up the EFL fellowship? Tzeporah: One thing I’ve learned over the past few years is to not avoid the hard conversations. It’s when we open up and listen to the other side that we can find our biases and also points of alignment. For the past two years, I’ve co-chaired an informal problem-solving group of 4 CEOs of oil companies and 4 executive directors of environmental groups. We came together a number of times to just try and understand each other. To try and figure out whether or not we could get on the same page. As soon as we started talking, we right away realized that in fact we weren’t even having the same conversations. We were talking past each other entirely. We don’t have all the answers but I think we’re now asking the same questions. We are starting to have the same conversation and part of that was in being willing to face the hard stuff and challenge our own biases. I remember after a particularly hard conversation about climate change, one of the CEOs said, “You know, I didn’t realize that on no other issue do I surround myself with people who agree with me and choose to avoid the conversation.” Similarly, in a conversation with a different CEO, he said to me, “It’s interesting that you have such faith in disruptive technologies and you have no faith in our existing technologies. Fair enough, I realized. Sure, it was those CEOs and ENGO executive directors that stood on the stage and changed the culture of the conversation by supporting the Alberta Climate Plan. Certainly it was a lot of the kudos go to the Andrew Leach Commission and the Notley government, but what’s really interesting is the polls show today that Albertans support the Plan. Alberta is an oil jurisdiction that set one of the highest carbon taxes in the world, and no one has all the answers about what that’s going to look like moving forward. But, there has been a dramatic culture shift in Alberta that has also really changed the conversation with the oil industry globally and for Canada nationally. I think if Alberta hadn’t done what it did, we wouldn’t be having the national climate policy conversations we’re having now. One of the greatest opportunities is for Alberta to become a model for supply side regions in being a climate leader. We can show other resource producing countries how the low carbon transition works. People talk a lot about what’s happening in Norway and while they’ve accomplished a lot, they haven’t addressed how much carbon they’re keeping in the ground. If you compare, our policies now in Alberta to Norway’s policy, they’re pretty strong. Some would say even stronger than what we’re seeing in Norway. I think we have the potential to be a global leader and a model for the rest of the world. I think that’s what we should be. Toby: I think back to in the ’80s when I was growing up in Alberta seeing the bumper stickers, “please God, let there be another oil boom. I promise not to piss it all away next time.” I think that describes what is happening now. A lot of people I went to school with that had great jobs in the oil patch and were making great salaries, but now it’s really tough times. There are tens of thousands and maybe more people that are affected by this. There are no easy answers here. Alberta’s modus operandi for too long has been boom to bust. I think we only have a couple of these booms left so we really had to make the most of them. I know this isn’t comforting to Albertans right now, but we have to say to ourselves, “Okay, we’ve got a few more juicy periods left.” How can we can squeeze this juice and really set ourselves up so have a steady path of upward progress? When we look at best practices, Norway comes up almost ad nauseam. Norway’s 96% powered by hydropower and one in 5 new cars bought there is an electric car. I think one of the most important lessons, is how they’ve taken the wealth they get from offshore oil and they reinvest that in their hydro, wind and transmission of assets that will provide them dividends well into the future. They invest along paths that will remain when they can no longer depend on the same oil wealth. I think Alberta has similar potential with its hydro power. There’s abundant hydropower potential for 11,000 megawatts. Instead of making a dash to gas which some are banking on, there’s a huge opportunity to replace coal with water. Geothermal is also a big opportunity. We hold some drilling technology and expertise if somebody is really going to make the big leap with progress on it. Why not Alberta? Chad: What a great note to end on. I think you’ve both captured the challenges and also the momentum that’s happening right now in Alberta and right across the globe. It’s been great chatting with you both. Thank you. #Culture_Shift #Clean_Technologies #Future_Economy #2016 #Hydro_Power #Geothermal_Energy

Thought Leaders Series | Toby Heaps and Tzeporah Berman Part Three

Part Three: Opportunities for Alberta’s Energy Future Following last month’s GLOBE Conference in Vancouver, Energy Futures Lab Director Chad Park caught up with two members of the Energy Futures Lab Advisory Council, Tzeporah Berman and Toby Heaps, both of whom had important roles at GLOBE and its surrounding events. The following is part three of the three-part discussion and focuses on specific considerations and opportunities for Alberta’s energy future. Part one explored some of the big...

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Part Two: Updates from GLOBE Conference 2016 Following last month’s GLOBE Conference in Vancouver, Energy Futures Lab Director Chad Park caught up with two members of the Energy Futures Lab Advisory Council, Tzeporah Berman and Toby Heaps, both of whom had important roles at GLOBE and its surrounding events. The following is part two of the three-part discussion and focuses on infrastructure and policy to guide energy transition. Part one explored some of the big international developments that Tzeporah and Toby believe are changing the playing field for the global energy system, while part three focuses on specific considerations and opportunities for Alberta’s energy future. Toby Heaps is the CEO and Co-Founder of Corporate Knights, CK Capital and the Council for Clean Capitalism. He spearheaded the first global ranking of the world’s 100 most sustainable corporations in 2005, and in 2007 coined the term “clean capitalism.” He sits on the Sustainability Accounting Standards Advisory Board and the University of Toronto’s Environment and Finance Committee. He is also is a member of the Advisory Council for the Energy Futures Lab. Tzeporah Berman BA, MES, LLD (honoris causa) has been designing environmental campaigns and working on environmental policy in Canada and beyond for over twenty years. She is an Adjunct Professor of York University Faculty of Environmental Studies and works as a strategic advisor to a number of First Nations, environmental organizations and philanthropic foundations on climate and energy issues. Tzeporah co-chairs a small oil industry/ENGO problem solving forum in Alberta on oil sands policy and was appointed last year to the BC Government Climate Leadership Team. She is a member of the Advisory Council for the Energy Futures Lab and is the former co-director of Greenpeace International’s Global Climate and Energy Program and Co-founder of ForestEthics. Chad: Both Tzeporah and Toby are recognized leaders on the global stage in their respective areas of expertise – Tzeporah as a prominent environmental activist and Toby as an expert and advocate in the role of capital markets and institutional investors in sustainable development. They each have strong personal ties to Alberta and also bring a global perspective. Whether or not we agree with all of their views, I believe it is important to consider this perspective as the Energy Futures Lab ponders how Alberta will position itself and evolve in the rapidly changing global energy system. Chad: Tzeporah, you surprised a lot of people at GLOBE by the exchange you had with Dr. Michael Porter regarding his latest report on the opportunities for natural gas in the energy transition. Tzeporah: Here’s the thing. I agree with some of Dr. Porter’s conclusions. For example, to regulate methane, to set regulations for environmental risks, and to ensure continuous improvement and compliance. The analysis is good but his math is wrong because he doesn’t take the carbon budget into consideration. Dr. Porter’s analysis overlooks the limits needed to secure a safe climate, whether you think that’s 1.5 or 2 degrees. His analysis assumes the market will take care of that. It assumes that we can still burn gas so long as we minimize other environmental impacts. I feel like he’s avoiding the big questions of how much unconventional oil and gas development we can afford and where it should come from. We also talked about his premise that more investment in oil and gas, the unconventional production, helps the development of a low carbon economy because it creates stronger economic conditions. My response to the panel was that gas is replacing coal, but that that’s not good enough anymore. Gas is only a transition fuel if we have a transition plan and we’ve seen a number of studies even from the US Energy Information Agency that show that higher natural gas production can lead to higher emissions levels in the US in the long term because it is displacing renewables. I think it was clear that Dr. Porter’s paper was written before the Clean Power Plan was finalized and before the Supreme Court win on demand response and tax extension. Both of those things are huge game changers because they show that good regulations can speed the transition and we shouldn’t just rely on the market. Toby: Most people would look at the emissions from a gas power plant and a coal power plant and see 50% less emissions from the gas power plant. It seems like it’s only half as problematic. We think gas is buying us some time, but we’re not counting the methane that we’re leaking from fracking. Actually, what we’re doing might be twice as bad in terms of emissions. Gas used to be viewed as essential to getting off coal, but at that time we didn’t have the renewable technologies available today. Certainly, the price of solar was 5 times higher. The price of wind was probably 3 to 4 times higher. Circumstances are different now, and in a lot of jurisdictions we can leap right over gas and go straight to a renewables-dominated grid. Chad: How do we balance these competing considerations? How could we address the need for a carbon budget while determining the role of fossil fuels in the transition? Toby: A growing number of investors are now imposing carbon budgets on themselves and there are jurisdictions integrating carbon budgets into their frameworks for accepting institutional investment. We’re noticing that some of the more sophisticated investors, like the Norwegian Oil Fund, have identified a large group of companies as being particularly vulnerable to the energy transition. They want to understand whether a company fits in a 2-degree world. They want to see credible business plans. There are over a 122 businesses now that have signed up to the Science Based Targets initiative. Suncor might be one of the first energy companies if they move forward with support of the shareholder resolution for a 2-degree business plan. Investors want to see that you are part of the solution, not clinging to the past. This is all going to have to be backed up by capital and R&D expenditures, and by a change in the portfolio on aggressive timelines. Tzeporah: I’ve been having a similar conversation, but in the public policy arena. How do we make decisions about projects, like national pipelines in Canada’s new climate era? There is uncertainty about where we’re headed because we don’t have nation-wide targets. Setting these targets is hard because of the difficulty of defining a given jurisdiction or sector’s fair share of responsibility. How do you decide yes or no on a project? One way is to look at the greenhouse gas emissions of a project, or even the potential expansion of the pool of carbon that it accesses, and use this as a climate test. The second way is to start including use and usefulness analysis in our business analysis. The National Energy Board does this, and it’s done provincially for environmental assessments as well. That business case analysis is currently based on business as usual projections. We’re assessing projects based on whether or not they make sense in a 6-degree warming world. If we actually also do analyses consistent with a 1.5-degree world, then we’ll get different answers. We need to align our infrastructure and our decisions with up-to-date climate targets. #Culture_Shift #Clean_Technologies #Future_Economy #2016 #Sustainable_Finance #Renewable_Natural_Gas

Thought Leaders Series | Toby Heaps and Tzeporah Berman Part Two

Part Two: Updates from GLOBE Conference 2016 Following last month’s GLOBE Conference in Vancouver, Energy Futures Lab Director Chad Park caught up with two members of the Energy Futures Lab Advisory Council, Tzeporah Berman and Toby Heaps, both of whom had important roles at GLOBE and its surrounding events. The following is part two of the three-part discussion and focuses on infrastructure and policy to guide energy transition. Part one explored some of the big international developments...

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Part One: The Latest International Developments Following last month’s GLOBE Conference in Vancouver, Energy Futures Lab Director Chad Park caught up with two members of the Energy Futures Lab Advisory Council, Tzeporah Berman and Toby Heaps, both of whom had important roles at GLOBE and its surrounding events. The following is part one of the three-part discussion and focuses on some of the big international developments that Tzeporah and Toby believe are changing the playing field for the global energy system. Part two explores infrastructure and policy to guide energy transition, and part three focuses on specific considerations and opportunities for Alberta’s energy future. Toby Heaps is the CEO and Co-Founder of Corporate Knights, CK Capital and the Council for Clean Capitalism. He spearheaded the first global ranking of the world’s 100 most sustainable corporations in 2005, and in 2007 coined the term “clean capitalism.” He sits on the Sustainability Accounting Standards Advisory Board and the University of Toronto’s Environment and Finance Committee. He is also is a member of the Advisory Council for the Energy Futures Lab. Tzeporah Berman BA, MES, LLD (honoris causa) has been designing environmental campaigns and working on environmental policy in Canada and beyond for over twenty years. She is an Adjunct Professor of York University Faculty of Environmental Studies and works as a strategic advisor to a number of First Nations, environmental organizations and philanthropic foundations on climate and energy issues. Tzeporah co-chairs a small oil industry/ENGO problem solving forum in Alberta on oil sands policy and was appointed last year to the BC Government Climate Leadership Team. She is a member of the Advisory Council for the Energy Futures Lab and is the former co-director of Greenpeace International’s Global Climate and Energy Program and Co-founder of ForestEthics. Chad: Both Tzeporah and Toby are recognized leaders on the global stage in their respective areas of expertise – Tzeporah as a prominent environmental activist and Toby as an expert and advocate in the role of capital markets and institutional investors in sustainable development. They each have strong personal ties to Alberta and also bring a global perspective. Whether or not we agree with all of their views, I believe it is important to consider this perspective as the Energy Futures Lab ponders how Alberta will position itself and evolve in the rapidly changing global energy system. Chad: Let’s discuss the major international developments and events in recent months that promise to have a big influence on energy policy both in Canada and globally. Events like Paris, Davos and GLOBE in Vancouver – you two have been a part of these events in one way or another. What do you think is important for people to know coming out of them? Toby: The key thing for people to know from the Paris climate talks is that in an unprecedented move, 195 countries all agreed to usher in a zero net carbon economy sometime this century. That’s a total game changer. At zero net emissions, there’s not a lot of room for burning fossil fuels, unless we have many advances in carbon capture and use technology. I don’t think it has totally sunk in, how unprecedented this is. It was way beyond what I expected to happen. Of course, it’s not legally binding, but these things are more meant to establish new norms and understandings of what the world is going to look like. These agreements send signals to markets to start factoring in new realities and expectations. Tzeporah: I agree. I think we’ve seen a few game changers in the past year. For one, there is now a recognition of the urgency of climate change. This is now mainstream and the era of climate denial is over. The Alberta Climate Plan is a great example of this. It’s the first time that major oil companies stood up and acknowledged that they’re going to have to support significant climate policy, not just generic statements about carbon pricing. We’re seeing a huge shift in the narrative around climate change, which also has its new challenges. I think while the era of climate denial is over, we’re now in the era of “yes, and” or “yes, but.” It’s still a complex conversation and there are still people dragging their feet, but we’re starting to have the same conversation now. We’re starting to ask the right questions together, both in Canada and internationally. I would say the second game changer is the emergence of a serious conversation around a carbon budget. Science is now telling us that two-thirds of remaining fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground if we’re going to keep the world at safe climate levels. Now, the majority of the world’s governments are not just arguing for 2 degrees, but are talking about 1.5 degrees to ensure a climate safe world. Toby: In addition to narrative changes, there is also a really interesting dance going around in terms of market expectations. Most of the market is expecting a slow pulse year round with respect to how we’re going to price emissions and regulate away certain types of things like thermal coal. The market is looking at this and saying, “Okay, it’s going to happen but it’s not going to happen tomorrow and we’ll have some time to adjust.” What changed after Paris was the market saw that this is going to happen in a more pronounced fashion, more quickly than we thought just a month ago. What this is ultimately doing is creating room for companies that want to build a bridge to a new energy future to now announce some pretty bold moves that they wouldn’t have for fear that it would affect their share price. Tzeporah: The bottom line is that these companies in the past were banking on climate policy failure. Reports from several major oil companies, where if you dug into why they were not responding to the carbon bubble analysis and the issues around carbon budget, it was because they simply did not believe that the world would get its act together and that climate policy was a serious threat to developing greater reserves. Now, post-Paris, they are looking at the writing in the wall saying, “Oh, in fact, that wasn’t a very safe bet of ours.” Toby: Probably the most interesting takeaway from Davos wasn’t in the headlines, but it was that the Carbon Tracker was there. The folks that pioneered the notion of the carbon budget are out to popularize it. They held a lunch and a surprise guest showed up at lunch. It was the chairman of one of the largest coal companies in the world, Tony Hayward from Glencore. The fact that he showed up to this lunch is pretty suggestive of how fast this issue has moved. He wouldn’t even have had 10 minutes to listen to those guys before. He’s there now because his investors are starting to tip the stock card. He’s there because he has to be there. #Culture_Shift #Clean_Technologies #Future_Economy #2016 #CCUS #Sustainable_Finance

Thought Leaders Series | Toby Heaps and Tzeporah Berman

Part One: The Latest International Developments Following last month’s GLOBE Conference in Vancouver, Energy Futures Lab Director Chad Park caught up with two members of the Energy Futures Lab Advisory Council, Tzeporah Berman and Toby Heaps, both of whom had important roles at GLOBE and its surrounding events. The following is part one of the three-part discussion and focuses on some of the big international developments that Tzeporah and Toby believe are changing the playing field for the...

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Reflections from our Energy Futures Lab Fellows As a fourth generation Albertan and Manager of CSR & Sustainability at Enbridge, MaryAnn Kenney has a deep understanding of the energy system here and respects “everything that the individuals and companies have built to create the current energy system.” At the same time, she believes “with the information we now have about climate change – and the information we have had for a long time about energy inequity– we can no longer continue operating under the status quo”. MaryAnn is one of 40 influential leaders from across Alberta’s energy system selected for the Energy Futures Lab (EFL) Fellowship. She will join representatives from industry, government, First Nations groups, and NGOs to begin to chart a path for the province towards an energy system characterized by sustainability, resilience, and innovation. “We have a lot going for us,” MaryAnn states on the political will, entrepreneurial spirit, technological expertise, and potential for renewable energy in Alberta. With all of these key ingredients, she believes the province is well positioned to be a leader in energy innovation. Linda Coaty, Enbridge’s Chief Sustainability Officer with Enbridge shares her enthusiasm for MaryAnn’s involvement in the Lab: “MaryAnn is passionate about her home province of Alberta, and about how its various stakeholders can work together to find energy solutions that align with the emerging social, economic and environmental demands of the 21st century. I am certain that she will be an asset to the work at hand, and that her participation will create value for our company and stakeholders.” #Culture_Shift #Fellowship #2016

MaryAnn Kenney: Working Together to Create Innovative Solutions

Reflections from our Energy Futures Lab Fellows As a fourth generation Albertan and Manager of CSR & Sustainability at Enbridge, MaryAnn Kenney has a deep understanding of the energy system here and respects “everything that the individuals and companies have built to create the current energy system.” At the same time, she believes “with the information we now have about climate change – and the information we have had for a long time about energy inequity– we can no longer continue...

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A group of Fellows visits Landmark Group/AcQbuilt’s innovative net-zero home production facility before engaging with founder and CEO Reza Nasseri and the Landmark transition story (Edmonton, Jan 2016) “It’s easy for people to have opinions, and be wildly pro or against something. But Fort McMurray is the literal front line of our national energy industry. It’s the bleeding edge of the boom bust cycle, that’s what this community experiences. I think it’s really important for people, when having a provincial or even national energy system conversation to have a bit of an experience of what it’s actually like up there.” - Sean Collins Can we credibly explore the energy transition in Alberta and not visit Fort McMurray? Next month the EFL Fellows are coming together for their third in-person workshop. This time they are setting aside their busy schedules and journeying to the city that in many ways is a ground zero for the big issues and debates about the province’s energy future. For years, Fort McMurray and the vast oil sands resource surrounding it, have been a focus of criticism nationally and internationally and the poster child for those highlighting Canada’s reputation as a laggard on climate policy, spurring visits from the likes of James Cameron, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Desmond Tutu. These visits have often intensified the polarization around energy, climate and the future role of these high carbon resources. EFL Fellow Sean Collins, born and raised in Fort McMurray, is looking forward to having his Lab colleagues join him in his hometown next month. “It’s easy for people to have opinions, and be wildly pro or against something. But Fort McMurray is the literal front line of our national energy industry. It’s the bleeding edge of the boom bust cycle, that’s what this community experiences. I think it’s really important for people, when having a provincial or even national energy system conversation to have a bit of an experience of what it’s actually like up there.” We agree. The first day and a half in Fort McMurray will be spent on “Learning Journeys” before the Fellows take the new insights garnered from these explorations to refine their prototypes and high leverage lab initiatives in the 2-day workshop that follows. Learning journeys are an opportunity for the Fellows to broaden and deepen their understanding of the current system, and to engage with a diversity of people and perspectives that they are not regularly exposed to. In Fort McMurray, the EFL Fellows won’t be exposed to ‘canned’ presentations, but rather hosts and visitors engaging in open and honest dialogue. Interacting with real people and real communities ensures that the challenges and complexity we are trying to address in the Lab don’t just exist on paper or in our heads, but that we also have some lived experience of them. These are journeys outside of our day-to-day experiences and narratives, and outside of our own assumptions and paradigms. That may sound exciting or it may sound scary, but we do know this is an essential part of the hard work of collaborating with diverse stakeholders on our most complex challenges. We applaud the Energy Futures Lab Fellows for stepping directly and bravely into this inquiry. They will be wrestling with some of the toughest questions around energy transition from numerous angles – the role of fossil fuels in a low carbon future, the possibilities for resilience in resource dependent communities, and so on. The future of a high carbon resource in a low carbon economy A group of fellows will see the footprint of the oil sands from the air, tour an oil sands mine and visit Ft McKay to engage with a variety of community members affected in different ways by oil sands development. Whether fellows have made countless trips to Fort McMurray or will be visiting for the first time, they will be challenging one another to ‘see with new eyes’, and to avoid letting the experience simply reinforce pre-existing narratives. For example, can the engineers in the group who may tend to be wowed by the engineering marvel of the oil sands view it through the lens of an aboriginal elder as ‘keeper of the land’, or perhaps take the perspective of a future generation? Building community resilience in a time of energy transition Meanwhile, another group of fellows will visit some of the community’s social service organizations – shelters, employment agencies, food banks, and engage in dialogue with Mayor Melissa Blake. Others will tour a local First Nation-owned and operated company, and engage further with the Regional District, the business community and the region’s Social Prosperity road map. They will be wading into debates about whether this is a time to grin and bear it and hope for an oil price rebound, or whether this is a moment to tackle some of the tougher, deeper questions around resilience, transition and our shared future. We expect to uncover many challenges, and also to be inspired by some new ideas for solutions. Undoubtedly there will be numerous lessons that are equally applicable to other towns across Alberta – from Medicine Hat to Grande Prairie, Hanna to Rocky Mountain House. And of course there are things that are unique to Fort McMurray as well. When I asked EFL Fellow Sean Collins what not to miss when we visit his hometown he replied, “Don’t miss the raw emotion of Fort McMurray. It’s different. People swear, people are rough around the edges. And people are super genuine and caring. I find Fort McMurray to be a more unpolished version of the rest of Alberta. To get an accurate portrayal of Fort McMurray, I wouldn’t try to polish the edges too much.” #Culture_Shift #Regional_Pathways #Fellowship #Alberta_Energy_Narrative_Hearts_and_Minds #Community_Resilience #2016

Alison Cretney: Why is the Energy Futures Lab Going to Fort McMurray?

A group of Fellows visits Landmark Group/AcQbuilt’s innovative net-zero home production facility before engaging with founder and CEO Reza Nasseri and the Landmark transition story (Edmonton, Jan 2016) “It’s easy for people to have opinions, and be wildly pro or against something. But Fort McMurray is the literal front line of our national energy industry. It’s the bleeding edge of the boom bust cycle, that’s what this community experiences. I think it’s really important for people, when...

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Diversity of opinions makes us stronger as families, Lab participants and frankly, as a nation. Our unique life experiences and narratives are not what define our separateness but are critical contributions to a more realistic, whole view of a system. With the support of the Alberta Real Estate Foundation we’ll be taking The Newtonian Shift across Alberta by invitation of municipalities, businesses, and other organizations. I have a big family—sixteen aunts and uncles and many, many cousins. Thanks to our grandparents we all seem to share a passion for debate. One of the more heated and reoccurring discussions is on the topic of climate change. This is not surprising given I have generations of family members working in the Alberta oil sands as engineers, marketing executives, and environmental assessments experts. I also have family members who lead environmental organizations and who have been on the front lines of pipeline protests and the divestment movement. My family is not unique. In boardrooms and around kitchen tables across Canada we are grappling with competing narratives. Like most debates, we are generating the kinds of insights needed to drive change, but we are also entrenching the positions that keep systems stuck in old patterns. Enter the Energy Futures Lab (EFL) and the Energy Futures Fellows. These 40 diverse experts are committed to the difficult conversations that are necessary to create breakthrough business models, and ‘future-fit’ policies and practices. As bellwethers and cultural influencers they are willing to share these big conversations with their networks – families, colleagues and communities. The Fellows do not yet agree on the specific innovations needed or the policies that will lead to the energy system of Alberta’s sustainable future, but they do agree that it is vitally important to engage Albertans in the conversation. This is what sets EFL apart from other system changing labs. Traditional labs have been built around a Chatham House Rule approach. Difficult, complex conversations are facilitated among a tight group where individuals experience transformational leadership opportunities, and build mutual trust. This leads to new collaborative approaches and initiatives. However, many past lab participants have found reintegrating into their organizations and businesses more difficult than expected. Their colleagues, families, and communities have not taken the same journey or experienced the same shifts in perspective. They have not been exposed to the same new ideas. What looked promising from inside the lab runs into real world resistance. The EFL is taking a different approach by opening the space to broader conversations. The Lab is guided in part by the Geels multi-level perspective on transitions. Frank Geels, a Dutch researcher, examined how disruptive technology, such as the car, came to shape global culture and massively shift human behaviour. In his seminal work, Geels identified three levels that must be affected in order for system-wide change to occur: Culture – is made up of the dominant paradigms (narratives) and shared mental frames (values) that underlie an entire system. It is culture that shapes goals and definitions of success. Regimes – are the political, economic and social institutions, regulatory frameworks, infrastructures and technologies, (rules of the game) as they exist. Together these pieces make up complex societal and economic systems that tend to be resistant to change. Niches – are protected spaces in which innovators are able to experiment with new technologies and approaches that challenge the dynamics of the current system. They often fail to infiltrate the system because of stabilizing feedback loops between culture and regimes. Adapted from Geels, F et al., (2012) Culture plays an essential role in allowing models that exist at the niche level to scale and take hold in regimes. Shifts at the cultural level can support new innovations from the niche level, enabling and facilitating change in regimes. Most system change processes focus almost exclusively on technological innovation and large-scale policy shifts to integrate and scale innovations. The EFL recognizes that engaged citizens co-create a receptive culture, and that this is essential to the long-term success of new innovations. This is democracy at its best and a model for the world. The EFL design has two strategies to engage Albertans and is adding more as Fellows identify new ways to connect with communities across the province. First, in the Fellows’ second workshop in January, they prioritized a long list of topics to facilitate “big conversations” with the media and other public channels. They also identified other influencers with distinct viewpoints to engage in dialogue over the next six months. Such conversations will continue to roll out over the course of the Lab, and our hope is that it will spark conversation amongst Albertans at home and at work. Secondly, and more directly, is the Energy Futures simulation game, The Newtonian Shift. The game allows individual Albertans with or without direct experience in the energy system to play key decision-making roles in a simulated energy system. The more than 30 roles in the game include oil, gas and renewable energy executives, mayors of cities and rural communities, coal and steel company marketing executives, and key leaders of First Nations and NGOs. In our polarized cultural space the game invites individuals to experience the system from multiple vantage points. It is surprising how real life situations are mirrored in the game, and how an entrenched perspective can dramatically shift when complexity and pressure are applied. Many players state that it is the closest they have come to putting themselves in someone else’s shoes. In the extensive debriefing session following the game the dominant theme is that each player has new insights and empathy for the role they played. And they express an appreciation for how difficult, convoluted and necessary it is to be working together to achieve a thriving, prosperous and sustainable future. We call this the “radical middle”. With new experiences and perspectives we can co-create a space where we build trust and begin to strategize on a desired future where our children and grandchildren can thrive. Diversity of opinions makes us stronger as families, Lab participants and frankly, as a nation. Our unique life experiences and narratives are not what define our separateness but are critical contributions to a more realistic, whole view of a system. I believe my grandparents, who are part of the generation that rolled up the sleeves and built health care and education systems for their communities, would likely say “finally – now get on with it!” References Frank W. Geels, Rene Kemp, Geoff Dudley and Glenn Lyons. (2012). Automobility in Transition? A Socio-Technical Analysis of Sustainable Transport. http://www.sustainabilitytransitions.com/files/Automobility%20in%20Transition%20-%20Content%20+%20Preface%20+%20Introduction.pdf #Culture_Shift #Fellowship #Alberta_Energy_Narrative_Hearts_and_Minds #2016 #The_Newtonian_Shift

Meeting in the Radical Middle: Shaping a New Energy Futures Narrative

Diversity of opinions makes us stronger as families, Lab participants and frankly, as a nation. Our unique life experiences and narratives are not what define our separateness but are critical contributions to a more realistic, whole view of a system. With the support of the Alberta Real Estate Foundation we’ll be taking The Newtonian Shift across Alberta by invitation of municipalities, businesses, and other organizations. I have a big family—sixteen aunts and uncles and many, many cousins....

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The Energy Futures Lab is all about transitioning Alberta’s energy system for a sustainable future. But what do we mean by the “energy system” exactly? Are we talking about oil and gas or renewables or both? What about the electricity generation and transmission infrastructure? All of those are part of the system. But those are talking about physical things, raw materials and their transportation. What about how we actually use energy? There is too much information to make sense of it all at once but by breaking into layers, you can see the detail and see how it all fits together. And that’s what we did for the EFL. After all, no one really wants just energy—they want the services that energy produces like heating, cooling, transportation, food, lighting and the use of whatever device you are reading this blog post with! There are so many different ways to look at the energy system, it can seem like an impossible task. Nonetheless, that was the task I was given: develop a visual representation of the energy system in Alberta and present that to 40 people (the EFL Fellows) that have spent their whole careers working in the energy system—gulp! The approach I took was based on layers. Remember those old books about the human body? The ones with a picture of the body with different layers of transparencies – one layer with bones, the next with veins, the next with the nervous system, etc. There is too much information to make sense of it all at once but by breaking into layers, you can see the detail and see how it all fits together. And that’s what we did for the EFL. The base layer takes a value chain approach, starting with raw materials on the left and working toward energy end-use (including export) on the right. We also split the system into two rows – the top for hydrocarbons, the bottom for thermal (heat) and electrical. While there are many interconnections between these two (for example, coal is burned to generate electricity), the industries and regulatory bodies in Alberta are often separate. While this is a good coverage of the raw materials, it doesn’t leave much room for the human and natural elements. The next layer brings in natural systems and communities showing the relationship of extracting materials from the earth’s crust and putting material back into the biosphere. And of course, communities are in the middle gaining benefits from the energy system (jobs, services, etc.) but also taking on risks and impacts (economic dependence, environmental impact). Economic drivers is another hugely important layer. As we have been made keenly aware recently, Alberta’s energy system does not work in a vacuum. Factors like demand for energy from China, actions taken by Saudi Arabia that impact the price of oil, the strength (or lack thereof) of the Canadian dollar, labour costs and investors from outside Alberta all have massive impacts on the energy system so their impacts need to be shown. At each stage of energy value chain Albertans are innovating. The technological innovation layer maps development such as fracking, cheap solar PV, co-generation of power, smart grids, geothermal and carbon capture and storage. All of these innovations have the potential to shift and disrupt the way we generate, transport, store and use energy. But do they have the ability to shift the whole system? The final layer looks at some of the broader trends that are impacting the energy system and need to be taken into account when looking at system shifts. Here we are talking about big landscape shifts like the United States (our biggest customer) becoming energy-independent by 2020 or the impact of new Provincial and Federal governments. It is also important to map the narratives around energy and their impacts. For example, the narratives of “Canada is an energy superpower” and “Canada is a climate dinosaur” illustrate very different views of how energy fits into our world and our role in developing these resources. And how did the presentation go? Well, there was a LOT of feedback! While everyone in the room had seen different versions of such a map, there were a lot of opinions. Some Fellows wanted to see more explicit inter-connections between components—for example, the link between hydrocarbon extraction and electricity production. Others wanted to further highlight the energy system services rather than the raw materials. And others thought that maybe the whole system should be drawn as a circle rather than a line to emphasize the full life-cycle of energy use. In the end, all of the Fellows agreed this was a useful starting point. The Fellows thought this model will be useful in building awareness on the complexities of the energy system, as a decision making tool and a way to map the work of the EFL to the different layers. There was also interest in making the model interactive so we can ask questions like how much electricity is Alberta using now? What if we changed our electric mix? What if our homes become more efficient users of energy? Following the workshop in Edmonton, work has continued with a small group of Fellows including Matt Beck, Binnu Jeyakumar, Michael Benson and Nathan Maycher. We have been meeting to talk about updates to the model, potential uses and new layers to add. After these updates, we will share the results with the whole EFL team in Fort McMurray in May closing the loop and letting the Fellows take the work forward. So that’s our multi-layer view of the energy system. And this is just the start! We will be continuing to evolve these layers and will keep you posted on that. There has been lots of work done in the past (such as (Jaccard, 2005; Lovins, 1976; Robinson, 1987a; 1987b; Stern, 2014) on visualizing energy systems in general. We have also collected a number of Alberta and Canada-specific visualizations in the Energy System Database. Take a look and be sure to let us know if you see a great way of representing the energy system! References Jaccard, M. (2005). Sustainable Fossil Fuels. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lovins, A. (1976). ENERGY STRATEGY: THE ROAD NOT TAKEN? Foreign Affairs, 55(1), 65–96. Robinson, J. (1987a). Insurmountable opportunities? Canada’s energy efficiency resources. Energy, 12(5), 403–417. http://doi.org/10.1016/0360-5442(87)90109-5 Robinson, J. B. (1987b). An embarrassment of riches: Canada’s energy supply resources. Energy, 12(5), 379–402. http://doi.org/10.1016/0360-5442(87)90108-3 Stern, P. C. (2014). Individual and household interactions with energy systems: Toward integrated understanding. Energy Research & Social Science, 1, 41–48. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2014.03.003 #Culture_Shift #2016

Steve Williams: Mapping the Alberta Energy System

The Energy Futures Lab is all about transitioning Alberta’s energy system for a sustainable future. But what do we mean by the “energy system” exactly? Are we talking about oil and gas or renewables or both? What about the electricity generation and transmission infrastructure? All of those are part of the system. But those are talking about physical things, raw materials and their transportation. What about how we actually use energy? There is too much information to make sense of it all at...

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The Energy Futures Lab is very pleased to announce the support of the Alberta Real Estate Foundation (AREF). AREF’s Board of Governors has approved a grant of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($250,000.00) to foster community engagement with a focus on energy literacy across Alberta. This is a bold commitment by AREF toward co-creating the province’s energy future as part of the Foundation’s 25th anniversary. “We want people to really understand where their energy comes from, and to understand what it means to talk about renewables and innovation. We have to get beyond an “Us vs. Them” argument and a commitment to energy literacy is going to be a big part of getting us there.” - Cheryl De Paoli, Executive Director, Alberta Real Estate Foundation “This is an important conversation to have in the province and it affects all Albertans.” The AREF Board of Governors states. “The Board is pleased that the Energy Futures Lab is representing a microcosm of Alberta as a whole by engaging industry, government, academia, non-for-profit and First Nations to achieve a robust and constructive conversation.” Cheryl De Paoli, AREF’s Executive Director, and an EFL Steering Committee Member for the past year, adds, “We want people to really understand where their energy comes from, and to understand what it means to talk about renewables and innovation. We have to get beyond an “Us vs. Them” argument and a commitment to energy literacy is going to be a big part of getting us there.” The grant is made under the Foundation’s new Community Innovation funding stream which supports projects, practices and ideas that encourage experimentation with the goal of creating new ways of realizing community potential and character within Alberta. AREF’s funding is to support the Energy Futures Lab’s public engagement commitment to share more broadly EFL Fellowship discussions, prototyping and new innovations with communities across Alberta. “Our grant to the Energy Futures Lab is AREF’s commitment to Alberta’s innovative spirit.” Cheryl De Paoli states, “We have a history of incredible ingenuity in getting oil and gas out of the ground and to market. And this spirit will be critical in setting ourselves on a path to move beyond oil and gas, and to position Alberta as a global energy leader now and into the future.” One of the major opportunities to engage Albertans in shaping their energy future is the Newtonian Shift game which Cheryl De Paoli introduced to the Energy Future Lab’s Design Team. The Newtonian Shift is an immersive simulation game that condenses 20 years of energy transition into a single day. Players take on one of a variety of roles within an outdated and inefficient energy system and collaborate in order to create the energy system of the future or risk being left behind. Over the coming year, with thanks to the support of AREF, a series of game sessions will be hosted in communities across Alberta. The first two of these will be held in Calgary on Thursday, April 7 and Edmonton on Thursday, April 14. Several of the EFL Fellows have already played the Newtonian Shift and were extremely positive about the experience: “Fascinating game. It forces you to think through how a bunch of different players can interact on the scale of an entire energy system.” – Matt Beck, Coordinator of Sustainability and Innovation, Husky Energy Inc. “The game brought new insights and was an excellent visualization of how linked and complex some changes can be.” – Gerardo Marquez, Project Manager, Alberta Electricity System Operator “I went in with fairly high hopes and they were more than exceeded.” – Imre Szeman, Co-Director, Petrocultures Research Group The Energy Futures Lab is very excited to be partnering with Alberta Real Estate Foundation to bring the game and the Lab to a wider audience. We are proud to be the recipient of substantial grant from an organization with which we share values such as collaboration, innovation, continuous learning, respect, accountability and sustainability. We look forward to mobilizing communities across the province to take an active role in shaping their energy future. ____ The Alberta Real Estate Foundation supports real estate related initiatives that enhance the industry and benefit the people of Alberta. After BuyShares put together an eToro UK review, we learned the Foundation’s revenues come from the interest earned on public money deposited in real estate brokers’ pooled trust accounts. Learn more at www.aref.ab.ca. #Culture_Shift #Community_Resilience #The_Newtonian_Shift #2016 #Future_Economy

Alberta Real Estate Foundation Announces Support of the EFL

The Energy Futures Lab is very pleased to announce the support of the Alberta Real Estate Foundation (AREF). AREF’s Board of Governors has approved a grant of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($250,000.00) to foster community engagement with a focus on energy literacy across Alberta. This is a bold commitment by AREF toward co-creating the province’s energy future as part of the Foundation’s 25th anniversary. “We want people to really understand where their energy comes from, and to...

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Imagine 20 years of energy transition condensed into an immersive half day simulation. The Newtonian Shift drops you into the outdated, inefficient, polluting energy system of Newtonia. You may find yourself working for a utility, or a bank. Or maybe you are a First Nations leader, oil and gas producer, or the director of an environmental non-profit. As the population grows and the impacts of climate change become impossible to ignore, the leadership and citizens of Newtonia call on actors across the system, including you, to work together to transform your country’s energy system into one that is sustainable and able to meet the needs of the future. It’s up to you to make it work while dealing with outages, supply disruptions, and shifting government regulations. If this sounds familiar, I’m glad you’ve been paying attention. “You can talk or read about a system, but The Newtonian Shift gives you the visceral experience of being at the centre of change. It’s fun, it’s intense, and provides real insights.” - Cheryl De Paoli, Executive Director of AREF “I went in with fairly high hopes and they were more than exceeded.” - Imre Szeman, Canada Research Chair in Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta and Co-Director of the Petrocultures Research Group Versions of The Newtonian Shift have been played by energy leaders in Europe, Ontario, and California, but the Energy Futures Lab version is customized to reflect the Alberta experience by including roles for First Nations and the oil and gas sector. The Newtonian Shift plays a central role in EFL’s public engagement strategy. Two sessions were run at the GLOBE conference in Vancouver earlier this month and with the generous support of the Alberta Real Estate Foundation (AREF), the game will be played communities across Alberta over the course of 2016. Cheryl De Paoli, Executive Director of (AREF), and EFL Steering Committee member explains that, “People need to know where their energy comes from, and they need to understand what it actually means to talk about renewables and innovation. We have to get beyond this Us vs. Them argument, and real energy literacy is going to be a big part of getting us there.” _____ But what could the Fellows, with such impressive combined knowledge and experience in energy, possibly get out of playing such a game? About a third of the Fellowship played the game during the January Backcasting Workshop in Edmonton, and here’s a little of what we heard. A platform for Experimentation. We can try things in a game that we cannot just try in real life. We’ll never design a perfect model of something as complex as Alberta’s energy system, but our ability to run experiments in the real world is extremely limited. Being able to play out interventions over years and across an entire system, even in simulation, can help us to identify promising avenues to pursue in the real world, or understand why an initiative that might seem promising could face unforeseen barriers. Matt Beck, Coordinator of Sustainability and Innovation at Husky Energy Inc, explains that, “You can’t gain the insight you need without using proxies to glean information on how different forces can interact and how dynamics can unfold. The game is a tool to enable experiments like that.” Perspective shifting. Games let us be someone else. Over the course of a career we can only have so many jobs, and we may not all get the chance to be the CEO of a major corporation, manage a clean-tech startup, or negotiate on behalf of a First Nations community. The Fellows come from across Alberta’s energy system, bringing their own unique points of view. Some may recently have seen each other as adversaries, but now they’ve been brought together to collaborate. What they are quickly realizing, and what the Newtonian Shift drives home, is that things often look very different from the other side of the table. Gerardo Marquez, Project Manager for the Alberta Electricity System Operator sees real value in the opportunity to experience fresh perspectives: “If you are an electricity provider you may only deal with a few other players, but maybe not others, like policymakers. This game allows you to see the other components that are sometimes hidden from your usual point of view.” Experience of the transition – In a game you don’t just learn something, you live it. The Newtonian Shift gives players the visceral experience of what a transition is like and the type of collaboration that is needed in order to make it happen. The bird’s eye view and time compression of the game world allow players to feel the system and the shift. Interrelations and dynamics are revealed and internalized in a way that can’t be achieved through readings, presentations, discussions or clever facilitation. Imre Szeman, Canada Research Chair in Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta and Co-Director of the Petrocultures Research Group puts it like this: “There are ways of learning experientially through a game that you just can’t do in other ways. A game like this isn’t about having a laugh. It’s a way of learning that you can’t do otherwise. It cuts to the chase as to what we’re doing, helping us learn and work differently to effect the kind of changes we want.” The first two public game sessions, hosted in partnership with AREF will be held in Calgary and Edmonton in early April. Whether you’ve been watching the Lab and interested in getting involved, you’re a fellow but didn’t get a chance to try the game in January, or just interested in energy or alternative learning experiences, coming out to one of these sessions will be an excellent opportunity to get a taste of what building the energy system of the future is going to take. #Culture_Shift #The_Newtonian_Shift #2016

Do we have time to play games? Do we have time not to?

Imagine 20 years of energy transition condensed into an immersive half day simulation. The Newtonian Shift drops you into the outdated, inefficient, polluting energy system of Newtonia. You may find yourself working for a utility, or a bank. Or maybe you are a First Nations leader, oil and gas producer, or the director of an environmental non-profit. As the population grows and the impacts of climate change become impossible to ignore, the leadership and citizens of Newtonia call on actors...

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On February 16th, Calgary Economic Development and the Pembina Institute co-hosted the Alberta Community Energy workshop. More than 80 diverse stakeholders participated, including representatives of academia; rural, municipal and provincial government; industry; utilities; economic development organizations; First Nations groups; NGOs and students. Why? Everyone was keen to understand how Albertans could own a piece of the renewable energy pie as the province starts phasing out coal. Community owned energy means that a community (First Nation communities, farming community small town/county and even larger distributed projects in major cities like Calgary, Edmonton or Lethbridge) can have influence on the definition, management and execution of a renewable energy project in either wind, solar, geothermal or biomass. Before brining this workshop together, we wondered: do Albertans even know they can have a personal stake in Alberta’s energy transition? We decided to share this developing story, as well as how any Albertan can participate in community-owned energy, and how they would benefit. Community-owned energy means that a community – such as a First Nations community, a small town, or even a major city like Calgary, Edmonton or Lethbridge – can have influence on defining, managing and executing a renewable energy project in either wind, solar, geothermal or biomass. These projects are usually created for the purpose of generating electricity. So why would a community team want to take this on? Community-owned distributed renewable generation brings considerable benefits to Alberta families, businesses, communities and the economy. It can turn energy infrastructure — otherwise considered a liability — into an asset with financial and social benefit returns. Families can look to renewable energy to complement their household income and strengthen their balance sheets by investing in an energy co-op, a community solar garden or buying shares in a community economic development investment fund. Communities retain economic benefits as well. Initial investment can return money to the community for re-investment. Renewable energy projects build capacity for further community economic development by retaining capital, training local labour and inspiring entrepreneurship. And because citizens have a direct stake in their energy production they are more likely to gain energy literacy. On the macro-economic level, community ownership of energy systems can foster long-term social license for renewable energy. Community energy can be an important part of a comprehensive effort to diversify employment opportunities by developing the trades and skills necessary to plan, install and maintain renewable energy systems. Obviously not all communities have the know-how to develop their own community energy project but there are plenty of ways these business ventures can be structured. Communities can choose between a for-profit and non-profit model. Project leadership can come from a variety of places, including community members, associations, entrepreneurs, local businesses, school boards, municipalities or post-secondary institutions. And like any successful project team, a diverse set of skillsets are required for business planning, such as financial modeling; legal expertise for writing up and negotiating contracts; and marketing to acquire funding, grow membership and encourage community involvement. Intrigued? There are plenty of resources to check out to feed your curiosity and learn more. A couple of active Alberta projects Lubicon Solar — a 20 kW solar energy project that provides clean, affordable power to a small First Nations community. This project not only offers affordable electricity, but an opportunity to train and involve community members in energy literacy education. Green Acres — the largest solar project in Alberta, 2 MW of installed solar energy capacity with a local Hutterite community. Town of Devon and Vulcan are both involved in solar projects that are initiated by the municipal (town) governments, but involve a substantial amount of community member consultation and crowd-funding for certain elements of the project. Town of Banff offers a Feed-in Tariff program, and is researching ways to involve a larger portion of the town’s population in a community energy project format Outside of Alberta Samso “Energy” Island — An island with a local population of 4,200 who have pooled together their resources to finance an energy transition with an off-shore wind farm, biomass and solar installations. The island has since established it’s own “Energy Academy” for capacity building, training and show-casing the island’s achievements to the international community. We encourage all Albertans to understand what choices they have to take an active role in their energy future. Community-owned renewable energy projects are one way to get involved, learn about energy production and alongside your neighbours. A group of Calgarians have just launched a crowdfunding campaign for the Alberta Solar Co-op – here’s your chance to find out more about community energy ownership from people just like you. #Culture_Shift #The_Newtonian_Shift #2016

Megan Zimmerman & Barend Dronkers: What is Community Energy?

On February 16th, Calgary Economic Development and the Pembina Institute co-hosted the Alberta Community Energy workshop . More than 80 diverse stakeholders participated, including representatives of academia; rural, municipal and provincial government; industry; utilities; economic development organizations; First Nations groups; NGOs and students. Why? Everyone was keen to understand how Albertans could own a piece of the renewable energy pie as the province starts phasing out coal....

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Is oil a dirty word? Spoiler, no. Energy Futures Lab Director Chad Park speaks to GLOBE 2016 attendees at the Walrus Talks Energy event. Chad’s talk challenges the simplistic approach of ‘with us or against us’ debates, and calls for new dialogue to enable the transition to a carbon competitive economy. #Fellowship #Culture_Shift #2016 #EFL_Platform

Is Oil a Dirty Word? Walrus Talks Energy: GLOBE 2016

Is oil a dirty word? Spoiler, no. Energy Futures Lab Director Chad Park speaks to GLOBE 2016 attendees at the Walrus Talks Energy event. Chad’s talk challenges the simplistic approach of ‘with us or against us’ debates, and calls for new dialogue to enable the transition to a carbon competitive economy. #Fellowship #Culture_Shift #2016 #EFL_Platform

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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 with these principles will ensure that we are shooting for one that is truly fit for the future. - Chad Park Outcomes from the Backcasting Exercise The Fellows did hard and good work together in far too compressed amount of time. After our first iteration we jointly assessed each Fellow’s satisfaction with the draft, i.e. how well did it articulate the transition that we’re seeking to enable together? We found our initial output lacking in a few key ways: First our desired future did not feel bold or ambitious enough. There was a feeling that it could set a path for incremental improvement rather than inspiring our commitment to transformative, breakthrough ideas. Our attempts to rapidly synthesize a range of rich conversations and insights resulted in statements that felt watered down. As one Fellow noted – they could have been generated by any group, rather than the vast collective experience in the room. This was particularly true for the desired future. We didn’t capture enough of the current energy system strengths that we can leverage for the transition. I also noted that the backcasting exercise may have left some of us holding early narratives just as tightly as before. Did Fellows who may believe that fossil fuels have no future have their view challenged in any way? Conversely, did the Fellows who may believe that our current economic dependence on fossil fuels is so pronounced that any talk of an alternative future is unrealistic have their view challenged? We’re all here together because we’ve expressed a belief that there can and must be some common ground among such diverse views and that working together is not only possible, but necessary if Alberta is to chart a new leadership course in a carbon competitive global economy. 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 with these principles will ensure that we are shooting for one that is truly fit for the future. It will also help us step beyond debates about fossil fuels to imagine new potential roles for hydrocarbons in a low-carbon economy and in the period of transition to get there. Most importantly, backcasting from principles will help us identify that there are multiple pathways to get to that future. Players from all across the system can be engaged in parallel and aligned (but distinct) innovation efforts. This is the great potential of the Energy Futures Lab as a forum for innovation. This was clearly a first step in a longer-term process for the group to get more shared about what the future requires of us. Lessons Learned Nevertheless, in hindsight it’s easy to see what could have been better about the design of the January backcasting session to help this amazing group get a little further with its first iteration. The first and obvious thing to adjust was that we needed more time. Beyond that, in my view there is one very big opportunity that could have been arranged differently: switching the order of the “desired future” and “assessing current reality” aspects of the backcasting exercise. Ironically, Fellow, Dick Eberson from the City of Calgary, raised this at the outset of the exercise. In my response I stated that when backcasting from sustainability principles it doesn’t matter which side of the gap you start with, since you end up iterating both sides a number of times. And that there are some benefits to doing a rigorous analysis of the current system through the lens of sustainability principles first. In my experience, helping many different groups with backcasting, this is often true. But in this case, starting with the “desired future” and imagining the future of Alberta’s energy system through the lens of sustainability principles would have created some space to deepen insights about the implications of sustainability science for Alberta’s energy system. We would have gotten to some of the meatier, more challenging topics more quickly. – like the role of hydrocarbons in a sustainable future. It would have created a bit more space for debate and dialogue to allow the fellows to challenge some of their respective assumptions and paradigms. It also would have allowed us to delve a bit deeper into truly transformative potential visions like the one EFL Advisory Council member Suzanne West outlined in an interview posted here. Finally, doing it this way would have allowed us to spend relatively more time on the future and relatively less time assessing the current reality. It also would have been a more energizing and uplifting close to the first day, instead of a dreary and sobering look at the challenges we face. We could have then spent time during the current reality assessment to reflect on what is working about the current system – i.e. what strengths can we build on? This adjustment would have clearly positioned a presentation by Alberta Energy’s Chief Energy Economist Mathew Foss, which relied heavily on forecasting, as part of the current reality that we need to contend with as we seek to transition to our desired future. Next Steps Going forward, we’ll have a stronger focus and tighter process for building a shared understanding and expression of “the energy system that the future requires of us.” A group of six EFL Fellows volunteered to work together with backcasting experts from the EFL design team to articulate the next iteration of the “transition” gap. We’ll likely also organize sessions for all the Fellows in multiple locations between now and May to work through drafts together and to dive deeper into some of the more challenging and contentious points. The platform of the EFL also offers us some excellent opportunities to consult beyond the Fellowship to gather input, for example by consulting with the EFL Steering Committee and Advisory council. As we do this, we will support the Fellows in using science-based principles as design constraints for the sustainable future. We’ll push ourselves to get beyond broad generalities about a desired future state to get to a level of specificity that both demonstrates full alignment with sustainability principles and can also clearly drive innovation efforts. We’ve got all the raw material we need, and there could be no more impressive, engaged, constructive group of people to work together on this vitally important task than the EFL Fellows. Getting it roughly right could make the difference between an Energy Futures Lab that reaches its full transformative potential and one that generates some interesting and modest improvements on the status quo. In other words, we have some important unfinished business! #Culture_Shift #Fellowship #2016 #EFL_Platform #EFL_Vision #Backcasting

Chad Park: Our Unfinished Backcasting Business

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 with these...

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The Energy Futures Lab (EFL) is proud to announce the Government of Alberta as a convening partner. Recognizing the need for innovative ideas and new partnerships in the transition to a carbon competitive and more diversified economy, the Government of Alberta is officially joining the Lab to support and enhance its vast potential. The other EFL convening organizations – The Natural Step Canada, Suncor Energy Foundation, The Banff Centre, and Pembina Institute – are thrilled to work with the Government of Alberta and have the province’s support at such a pivotal time in shaping our energy future. I’m pleased the Government of Alberta is joining Suncor, The Natural Step, the Banff Centre, and Pembina Institute in supporting the Energy Futures Lab - Hon. Shannon Phillips, Minister of Environment and Parks At a late-January EFL reception in Edmonton, Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips had these thoughts to share with Energy Futures Lab Fellows and partners as she announced the Alberta government’s support: “The Energy Futures Lab can serve as a forum to help foster the innovations necessary to actualize and accelerate the transition to a low carbon future. I’m pleased the Government of Alberta is joining Suncor, The Natural Step, the Banff Centre, and Pembina Institute in supporting the Energy Futures Lab. It’s a fantastic Alberta-driven initiative backed by a diverse group of innovators and influencers. This is about our economic future: diversification, innovation and jobs. With collaborative support like this for our entrepreneurs and innovators, I believe that we can see new and effective innovations and technologies. Ideas and technologies that could unlock the next deposit, reduce the impact of tailings, create energy from waste or accomplish something we haven’t even thought of yet. These technologies will help create new jobs and help build our knowledge economy. Our next big energy export might be a technology that helps the world reduce carbon emissions from energy production. We understand there is a tremendous of vulnerability for Albertans right now. We can’t control the price of oil, but what we can do is control how we respond to it. We can also control how we treat each other through crisis. So we have chosen to be collaborative and solutions focused. We are not interested in throwing tantrums. We are interested in substantive, productive engagement on this serious project of nation building. We have chosen, as a government to invest in diversifying our economy. We have chosen, as a government to find new markets for our products. We have chosen as a government to look for ways that we can add value and become carbon competitive and build on our current advantages. We have chosen to work together. That, we believe, is the actual Alberta way. And that’s why we’re proud to support the Energy Futures Lab, whose chorus of diverse voices reflects a kind of well-versed input we want and need in moving to a carbon competitive economy. I’d like to wrap things up with some thoughts specifically for the Fellows. You’ve earned a tremendous opportunity by being part of the Energy Futures Lab Fellowship and I encourage you to make the most of it. Future generations in our province may just look back at this time and initiatives like the Energy Futures Lab as the moment when real leadership for addressing climate change began to blossom. As you dive into the innovation process and the interaction with all these diverse stakeholders, remember to ask yourselves difficult questions. How can we build public engagement support for a low carbon future? How can we work together to help change the public conversation particularly at a time of such difficulty for so many Albertans? How will we – not can we – diversify the economy, add value to our resources and create good jobs for Albertans? And can we find pathways to low emissions energy production or even a non-combustion future for our hydrocarbons. I’m very interested to see where you can go from here.” I’m pleased the Government of Alberta is joining Suncor, The Natural Step, the Banff Centre, and Pembina Institute in supporting the Energy Futures Lab. #EFL_Platform #2016

Announcing Government of Alberta as Convening Partner

The Energy Futures Lab (EFL) is proud to announce the Government of Alberta as a convening partner. Recognizing the need for innovative ideas and new partnerships in the transition to a carbon competitive and more diversified economy, the Government of Alberta is officially joining the Lab to support and enhance its vast potential. The other EFL convening organizations – The Natural Step Canada, Suncor Energy Foundation, The Banff Centre, and Pembina Institute – are thrilled to work with the...

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What is the energy system that the future requires of us? This query underpins the convening question for the Energy Futures Lab and is a key part of the inquiry of the EFL Fellows as they backcast together in the Lab. Effective backcasting requires a bold and compelling vision to drive transformative innovation and overcome the tendency for only incremental improvement efforts. Who better to help the EFL think about a bold and compelling vision for our energy system than Imaginea Energy President and CEO (and EFL Advisory Council member) Suzanne West? Chad Park sat down with Suzanne while she attended the first EFL workshop in Banff. Our vision as an industry is that we are producing hydrocarbons to do good work in the world. To build things, to build renewable things, rather than to burn them and create pollution and emissions. - Suzanne West Chad Park: I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak with Suzanne West, President and CEO of Imaginea Energy Corporation. Suzanne West: Thank you for having me. CP: The first thing we want to talk about is the big question that we are asking of the Fellows and of Alberta. What do you think our future energy system will look like? SW: Imagining our future energy system requires for us to all to generate a new vision of what we want to be. We can generate a vision that is inspiring and motivating and digs into the best parts of us as humans, as business leaders, as community participants. We need to create a vision that we can see and can energize. Our behaviors follow that, our innovations follow that, our desire to get rid of our bad habits follows all of this naturally and organically. We need to have people excited about a vision of Alberta, a vision of us as leaders in this energy field. Energy is going to define our future. We have been so blessed with the energy resources that we have in this province. Why wouldn’t we want to be leaders in that? CP: You have built a company around a certain vision of the future and a certain vision of the energy system. Can you tell us a little more about that? About the vision that’s driving your work? SW: Imaginea stands for imagine a new way of doing business. We are trying to create new paradigm shifts for people that are positive. Our main shift is to create an understanding and desire for an “and” mindset. We now have limited solution sets. You can either be a tree-hugger or a greedy capitalist in the energy sector. That’s just not been helpful. Imaginea is all about trying to show the magic of “and”. To show the increase and the depth and breadth of the opportunity base that we have in the permutations and combinations of solutions to complex problems. That “and” is the way forward. It is an opportunist way of looking at it rather than under the banner of “should”. That is a good narrative too, that we should, because we definitely should. But to me, the more powerful narrative is “and.” It is the opportunity of making business better, of making our environmental footprint better, of providing greater meaning and purpose for people. That will just afford us a new future that is just going to be so much better. CP: Can you tell us about a few of those examples where you are already starting to see, or to build, glimpses of the future? SW: One of Imaginea’s really high dreams as we look further into the future is to help people understand that fossil fuels aren’t all bad. The problem with fossil fuels isn’t that we produce them. The problem is that we burn them. Fossil fuels and combustion engine vehicles are very inefficient uses of the very precious energy we have. But, hydrocarbons, hydrogen and carbon, are two incredibly important molecules for our future. Hydrocarbons will be very important for building useful things for society. So, one of our high dreams at Imaginea is to transform this idea of not just how we are producing hydrocarbons, but why we are producing them. Our vision as an industry is that we are producing hydrocarbons to do good work in the world. To build things, to build renewable things, rather than to burn them and create pollution and emissions. Wouldn’t it be super cool if we had a province and a country that produced hydrocarbons without emissions, without pollution, without the use of fresh water? To build and use things in really helpful ways. We could potentially be the hydrocarbon source of choice, and we could be viewed as, “Wow, they’re the ones that are actually leading the way in how we need to do this.” —– Stay tuned for Part 2 of Chad Park’s interview with Suzanne West. #Culture_Shift #EFL_Platform #2016

Imagining a New Energy Future – with Imaginea Energy CEO Suzanne West

What is the energy system that the future requires of us? This query underpins the convening question for the Energy Futures Lab and is a key part of the inquiry of the EFL Fellows as they backcast together in the Lab. Effective backcasting requires a bold and compelling vision to drive transformative innovation and overcome the tendency for only incremental improvement efforts. Who better to help the EFL think about a bold and compelling vision for our energy system than Imaginea Energy...

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Sustainability expert, Pong Leung introduces backcasting, a key tool for the Energy Futures Lab Backcasting gives you a chance to look through the front windshield seeing clearly the road ahead, as well as the tools to imagine the best possible destination where you could arrive and thrive. It is about imagining a very clear future not constrained by the limits of your past experience. This creates a sense of freedom and unleashes new ideas, and new possibilities. – Pong Leung We are all familiar with the idea of starting with the end in mind. In fact, it is likely that you have seen the benefits of applying it individually or with your family, for example when exploring your career path or planning a family vacation. You likely started thinking about what a successful career or vacation would mean and then used that as a guide to make decisions in the near-term to help you get there. This is the essence of “backcasting”, a methodology for planning in complexity. It is a play on the word “forecasting”. In forecasting you look at past performance and trends and project them out into the future. For example, a business might make a sales forecast by looking at consumer trends to set at target. There is nothing inherently wrong with forecasting, however when applied in isolation it is of limited value. It would would be like basing where you live only on where you have lived previously (“I lived in Vancouver, then Calgary, so I must move east next!”) or driving a car by only looking in the rearview mirror. Of course we don’t do this. Backcasting gives you a chance to look through the front windshield seeing clearly the road ahead, as well as the tools to imagine the best possible destination where you could arrive and thrive. It is about imagining a very clear future not constrained by the limits of your past experience. This creates a sense of freedom and unleashes new ideas, and new possibilities. And it isn’t a flight of fancy. There is a rigour that once you identify the future state of possibilities then you have the tools to develop from the desired future the reasoned, clear path back to your current state. In so doing creating the critical path that projecting the past alone couldn’t inspire. Given the potential, backcasting should also play an important role in planning in organizations, communities and sectors, in particular when there is a strong sense that the current direction that they are headed is not taking them where they want or need to be in the future. Rather than simply projecting out the current direction and accepting it as their future path, backcasting invites people to come together to articulate a shared intention about a different future they want to create and then find new ways of working together to achieve it. The Natural Step has decades of experience helping groups – businesses, communities and sectors – create and realize bold and resilient futures via backcasting. Our approach consists of four interrelated and self-reinforcing concepts commonly referred to as the ABCD. Awareness. Building awareness of the relationship between the organization, community or sector and the society and environment within which it operates. In particular, this involves clarifying the future risks in the way we currently operate, and the business future opportunities in finding new ways of doing things. Baseline <—> Compelling Vision. Creating a compelling vision of where we want to be and taking an honest look at where we are now establishes a shared creative tension that motivates us to act. Down to Action. Brainstorming potential actions and prioritizing them by evaluating how they help us move towards our compelling vision, how they can act as a platform for future steps towards our vision, and how they generate sufficient return on investment to seed future steps. As you can imagine, “ABCD” is not as simple nor as linear as A-B-C-D, rather it is an ongoing process of planning, acting, evaluating and learning. The more we think about the future the more questions it will raise about today; the more we learn about today will expand possibilities for the future; the more we act and learn from actions the clearer the way forward will become, and so on. Recently, the Fellows of the Energy Futures Lab backcasted together for the first time. We took a look at where we are today, explored the energy system that the future requires of us, and identified the best opportunities for collaboration to enable the transition. Although the benefits of backcasting are significant, we found ourselves faced with a number of questions to unlock its full potential, including: How do we describe a future that feels bold and ambitious enough to establish a real creative tension that will lead to breakthrough ideas? How do we bring together the ideas, aspirations and thoughts of 40 people into clear and concise statements without them feeling watered down, generic and confusing in the limited time together that we have? How do we fully capture both the challenges and benefits of our current energy system so that we start with a full picture of where we are? We still have a lot of work to do, and know that we need to get it right to be able to realize the full potential of the Energy Futures Lab. We are keen to work together to explore these questions and others, and are looking forward to next steps. Look out for an upcoming blog from Chad Park sharing further lessons from our experience in the EFL and some ideas for moving forward at www.energyfutureslab.com #Culture_Shift #Fellowship #2016 #EFL_Platform #EFL_Vision #Backcasting

Backcasting: Starting with the End in Mind

Sustainability expert, Pong Leung introduces backcasting, a key tool for the Energy Futures Lab Backcasting gives you a chance to look through the front windshield seeing clearly the road ahead, as well as the tools to imagine the best possible destination where you could arrive and thrive. It is about imagining a very clear future not constrained by the limits of your past experience. This creates a sense of freedom and unleashes new ideas, and new possibilities. – Pong Leung We are all...

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We gratefully acknowledge the original territories of the Siksikáwa, Îyârhe Nakodabi, and Tsuut’ina Dene, of Mohkínstsisakápiyoyis, Wincheesh-pah, Kootsisáw, or the colonized lands which many now refer to as Calgary, where the Energy Futures Lab is headquartered. These Lands are also home to members of the Métis Nation of Alberta under the Otipemisiwak Métis Government — District 4 & 5, whose peoples have deep relationships with the land. This reminds all of us to walk in a good way and remember our commitments to Indigenous Peoples.

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The Energy Futures Lab is a platform for shaping the people-powered solutions to Canada's most complex energy challenges.

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