Racing to the last barrel: Linking oil and gas industry interests to climate inaction in Canada

Abstract

Despite increasing urgency of the climate crisis, Canada has systematically failed to reach its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. Meanwhile, the country's fossil fuel industry, mostly based in the province of Alberta, has continued to grow, becoming the nation's main source of emissions. Recently, several studies have used a policy network (PN) approach to outline this industry's reach within Canadian public and political spheres. This research suggests that this network is one of the primary drivers of climate inaction in the country. While these studies outline the extent of the fossil fuel PN in Canadian society, further research is required to fully understand its degree of influence within Canadian politics. Particularly, it remains unclear how this network can steer specific policies towards preferred outcomes. As such, this study seeks to determine whether climate and energy policy decisions in Alberta reflect the interests of the fossil fuel industry. To do so, it observes the evolution of non-state actor membership in 11 key provincial policymaking bodies along with climate and energy policy change between 1990 and 2019. This analysis is also complemented by ten interviews of key individuals with decades of involvement in environmental or energy policymaking. The main findings show that fossil fuel industry actors have had substantial political influence on climate and energy policy decisions in Alberta for nearly three decades – and despite varying degrees of inclusion of other actors with differing interests. These findings help understand how industry interests can affect climate policy decisions in Canada.