In 2007, Alberta demonstrated that it could be a leader in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by becoming the first North American jurisdiction to put a price on carbon. Given that the province had long been criticized for its central role in the carbon-based economy, Alberta’s move...

After the horrific and deadly train explosion at Lac-Mégantic, Que. in the summer of 2013, there are serious questions being raised publicly about the safety of Canada’s rail-transport system. Unfortunately, Canada’s public rail-safety data are currently in no shape to provide the answers...

This white paper reports on the results of a year-long interdisciplinary collaboration aimed at identifying and summarizing extant research regarding social licence and related concepts, with a particular emphasis on understanding its implications for public acceptance of energy projects in...

The oil and gas sector is a key driver of the Canadian and Albertan economies. Directly and indirectly it typically accounts for roughly half of Alberta’s GDP, as well as one-third of the country’s business investment and a quarter of business profits — and rising global demand will only...

Methane, an important greenhouse gas with high global warming potential, is critically under-regulated and overlooked by policymakers in Canada. In this paper, we seek to close the science-policy knowledge gap by reviewing the sources of methane emissions in Canada, policies in place, and...

Innovative clean technologies are part of the solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in both Canada and Alberta, particularly in the latter’s petroleum industry. However, while governments and their agencies may provide policies and financial support, proponents of cleantech still face...

Economic growth and development is intimately related to the decline of agriculture’s share of output and employment. This process of structural change has important implications for income and productivity differences between regions within a country or between countries themselves....