The written summaries, video recordings, and presentation slides from our Oct. 1-2, 2015 Renewable Energy and Climate Change Policy workshop are now available here.
This international workshop and public forum examined European and Canadian approaches to renewable energy production and climate change policy. A common theme was how the inter-linkages between renewables and climate change are addressed in different types of institutional and political contexts. The workshop provided an opportunity to critically examine action and inertia in these areas in the European Union and its Member States, on the one hand, and in Canada and at the provincial/local level (with a focus on Ontario and Ottawa), on the other. The workshop devoted particular attention to “new” renewables, such as wind and solar technologies, including issues of public and social acceptance, drivers of innovation, sources of action and inertia in government promotion of these technologies, and policy options in implementing renewable energy options. The potential for lower-level jurisdictions (municipalities, provinces, or, in the EU, Member States) to serve as ‘leadership points’ was explored, along with the way in which such initiatives are encouraged by the European Union.