The Charlottetown Initiative: Maritimes’ Sustainable Energy Transition

Submission by Ecology Action Centre to the Government of Canada’s climate portal

PRIORITIES FOR ACTION

The Charlottetown Initiative on the Maritimes’ Sustainable Energy Transition took place on February 18 & 19, 2016. The Initiative provided an avenue for sustainable energy and climate thought­leaders from each of the Maritime provinces to contemplate the regional implications of, and opportunities offered by, recent UN climate negotiations in Paris, and the election of a federal government committed to a new model of climate action in Canada. The Initiative brought together 33 individuals representing the business, academic, and civil society communities of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

Together, we aimed to:

• seek opportunities to build on successful climate change prevention and mitigation efforts
  implemented in the region in the last decade
• find the incentives required to take action that has yet to be initiated
• identify barriers to continued progress in the region
• contribute to positive national momentum on climate action and sustainable energy
  development
• lay the foundation for long­term communications between meeting attendees and ongoing
  regional collaboration ­ and engagement with regional governments ­ on climate/sustainable
  energy objectives.

Participants agreed to continue to work together through an informal network that will share resources and seek opportunities to support the ongoing transition to a sustainable energy economy in the Maritimes.

As a network, we hold that the Maritimes’ energy transition must satisfy the social, environmental and financial dimensions of sustainability. As such, we consider it important that as we build a 100% renewable energy system in the coming decades, we do so in a way that strengthens our local communities and First Nations by providing opportunities for local jobs and community ownership, and by addressing energy poverty and impacts of industrial transitions on workers.

This briefing paper serves as the introduction to an evolving regional dialogue the network will facilitate in coming months and years. It outlines the four priority actions identified at the Charlottetown Initiative, which we see as immediate opportunities for action by Maritime Premiers and Energy Ministers.