Angela V. Carter’s research while affiliated with University of Waterloo and other places

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Publications (24)


Figure 1: The fossil fuel commodity chain
Proposed expansion of carbon lock-in infrastructure, 2010-2021
Summary of provincial emissions-reduction targets
Mapping Fossil Fuel Lock-In and Contestation in Eastern Canada
  • Research
  • File available

June 2023

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130 Reads

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1 Citation

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Angela Carter

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Emily Eaton

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[...]

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When talking about oil and gas production in Canada, most of the attention focuses on Western provinces, especially Alberta and British Columbia. Yet, the whole country is deeply locked into carbon extractivism. This report looks at the state of carbon lock-in in Eastern Canada, a region often neglected regarding energy conversations. Carbon lock-in refers to the technological and institutional blockages to energy transition that can be traced back to economic and political choices made in the past. Despite the urgent need for energy transition, Eastern provinces – the four Atlantic provinces plus Québec – are still highly dependent on existing fossil infrastructure for electricity generation, heating, transportation, and industrial activity. Some provinces also depend on this infrastructure for employment and governmental revenue. Since 2010, 19 additional carbon extractive projects have been proposed across all five eastern provinces. These projects, some still being discussed, would have further entrenched the region in carbon lock-in were it not for the strong resistance from Indigenous and settler civil society groups. Carbon lock-in crucially stems from the material infrastructure of the oil and gas commodity chain – from extraction sites, through pipeline, rail or ship transportation, to refining sites, and to end consumption sites where oil and gas are burned, releasing energy and greenhouse gases. Large corporations control all stages of this chain, some of the most profitable in Canada, to benefit their national and international shareholders. This report maps out this infrastructure to emphasize the material aspects of fossil dependency and the struggles to break away from it. In the face of climate catastrophe and local environmental destruction, grassroots activists and environmental NGOs have been mobilizing across Eastern Canada to oppose further entrenchment of fossil dependency. Most of these struggles have been successful: most of the proposed fossil expansion has been blocked, moratoriums on shale gas exploration were put in place in all provinces, PEI legislated a ban on hydraulic fracturing in 2017, and Québec put an end to all oil and gas extraction in its territory in 2022. All provinces have also put forth climate action plans with quantified emissions reduction targets that are updated regularly. These targets are often designed to be easy to reach or are simply not respected. Still, activists in all provinces are pressuring governments to keep to their commitments to various degrees. In Québec, out of the strong movement that emerged from the struggles against fracking and the Energy East pipeline came a broad-ranging just transition plan based on social justice principles and is now pushing to wind down fossil gas dependency. But there is pushback: New Brunswick partially lifted its fracking moratorium and is dragging its feet to implement transition; Newfoundland and Labrador strongly supports expanding offshore oil extraction and, up to now, has been given the green light from the federal government to do so. Additionally, while new infrastructure projects have been successfully challenged, there needs to be more campaigns directed at existing fossil infrastructure, which nonetheless needs to be dismantled to achieve decarbonization. Other challenges include coordinating movement responses to new energy sources, especially to hydrogen, which is being touted as a technological solution for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors, but which has significant environmental and carbon impacts. Where do things stand today for organizing against further carbon lock-in and just transition? This report assesses the state-of-play of carbon lock-in in early 2023 and contributes to the discussion about achieving decarbonization and just transition in Eastern Canada. Also available here: https://policyalternatives.ca/fossilfuellockin

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Figure 1 : La filière des hydrocarbures
Figure 2 : Linfrastructure du verrou carbone dans l'Est canadien
Figure 5 : Résistance à l'expansion de l'industrie des hydrocarbures, 2010 à 2021
Extractivisme fossile, verrou carbone et mobilisation sociale dans l'Est du Canada : un état des lieux

June 2023

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72 Reads

Quand on discute de la production pétrolière et gazière au Canada, on pense spontanément aux provinces de l’Ouest, en particulier à l’Alberta et à la Colombie-Britannique. Pourtant, c’est bien l’ensemble du pays qui souffre d’une dépendance profonde aux hydrocarbures. Ce rapport dresse un état des lieux quant à la situation de « verrouillage carbone » qui prévaut dans les provinces de l’Est canadien, une région souvent négligée dans les conversations sur l’énergie. L’idée du verrou carbone fait référence aux blocages technologiques et institutionnels à la transition énergétique qui découlent de décisions économiques et politiques passées. Malgré l’urgence de la transition, les provinces de l’Est - les quatre provinces atlantiques et le Québec - sont encore très dépendantes des hydrocarbures pour la production d’électricité, le chauffage, le transport et la production industrielle. L’emploi et les recettes publiques sont aussi fortement liées à l’extraction et au raffinage d’hydrocarbures à Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador et au Nouveau-Brunswick. Depuis 2010, 19 nouveaux projets d’extraction et de transport d’hydrocarbures ont été proposés dans la région, dont certains sont encore sur la table aujourd’hui. N’eut été d’une forte résistance de la part de communautés et gouvernements autochtones et de groupes de la société civile non-autochtone, ces projets auraient enfoncé bien davantage la région dans la dépendance aux hydrocarbures. La situation de verrouillage carbone découle essentiellement d’une infrastructure matérielle, dont les composantes s’imbriquent en une chaîne de production qui va des sites d’extraction, au transport par pipeline, par rail ou par bateau, jusqu’aux sites de raffinage, pour finalement atteindre les points de consommation finaux où le pétrole et le gaz fossile sont brûlés pour libérer de l’énergie, en même temps que des gaz à effet de serre et d’autres polluants. À chacune de ces étapes, cette chaîne est contrôlée par des grandes entreprises, dont certaines sont parmi les plus rentables au Canada et au monde, et qui génèrent des profits acheminés à leurs actionnaires nationaux et transnationaux. Ce rapport dresse une cartographie de l’ensemble de cette « infrastructure fossile » dans l’Est canadien, afin de mettre en évidence les aspects matériels de la dépendance aux hydrocarbures ainsi que les luttes écocitoyennes pour s’en affranchir. Face à la catastrophe climatique et à la destruction des environnements locaux, des communautés et gouvernements autochtones, des militant∙e∙s citoyen∙ne∙s et des organisations non gouvernementales environnementales (ONGE) se sont mobilisées dans tout l’Est canadien pour s’opposer au renforcement du verrou carbone. La plupart de ces luttes ont été couronnées de succès : bon nombre des projets d’extraction et de transport d’hydrocarbures ont été bloqués, et des moratoires sur l’exploration et l’exploitation gazière par fracturation hydraulique ont été mis en place dans chacune des provinces; l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard a par la suite intégré l’interdiction de la fracturation hydraulique dans sa Loi sur l’eau en 2017 et le Québec a mis fin légalement à toute extraction de pétrole et de gaz sur son territoire en 2022. Toutes les provinces ont également adopté des plans d’action climatique incluant des objectifs quantifiés de réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre mis à jour régulièrement. Les objectifs qui y sont énoncés sont toutefois pour la plupart conçus pour être faciles à atteindre ou ne sont tout simplement pas respectés. Ces plans permettent néanmoins aux militant∙e∙s dans chacune de ces provinces de faire pression sur les gouvernements pour qu’au minimum ils respectent leurs engagements. Au Québec, un mouvement fortement coordonné est né des luttes contre la fracturation hydraulique et contre l’oléoduc Énergie Est, qui a produit une feuille de route détaillée pour une transition juste fondée sur la justice sociale et qui milite actuellement pour libérer la province de la dépendance au gaz fossile. Alors que de telles avancées ont lieu, ailleurs on observe un recul des acquis : le Nouveau-Brunswick a partiellement levé son moratoire sur la fracturation hydraulique en 2019 et traîne les pieds pour mettre en œuvre une quelconque transition ; Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador soutient fermement l’expansion de l’extraction pétrolière en haute-mer et, jusqu’à présent, a reçu le feu vert du gouvernement fédéral pour le faire. Plus généralement, si les nouveaux projets d’infrastructure ont été contestés avec succès depuis 2010, on aimerait voir davantage de campagnes dirigées contre les infrastructures fossiles existantes, qui doivent éventuellement être démantelées pour parvenir à la décarbonation de nos sociétés. Depuis les luttes contre la fracturation hydraulique, de nouveau défis se posent aux mouvements écocitoyens, entre autres de coordonner les réponses aux nouvelles sources d’énergie dites « propres » ou « vertes », en particulier à l’hydrogène, vu comme une technologique émergente aux multiples applications mais dont l’impact sur l’environnement ne peut être négligé. Ainsi donc, où en sommes-nous aujourd’hui en matière de luttes pour le démantèlement du verrou carbone et la mise en œuvre d’une transition juste ? Ce rapport présente un état de la question au début de l’année 2023 qui contribuera à la discussion sur la décarbonation et la transition juste dans l’Est du pays. Aussi téléchargeable à partir de : https://policyalternatives.ca/Extractivismefossile


Societal Boundaries

January 2023

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400 Reads

The notion of societal boundaries aims to enhance the debate on planetary boundaries. The focus is on capitalist societies as a heuristic for discussing the expansionary dynamics, power relations, and lock-ins of modern societies that impel highly unsustainable societal relations with nature. While formulating societal boundaries implies a controversial process – based on normative judgments, ethical concerns, and socio-political struggles – it has the potential to offer guidelines for a just, social-ecological transformation.


Planetary Boundaries

January 2023

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299 Reads

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1 Citation

The planetary boundaries concept has profoundly changed the vocabulary and representation of global environmental issues. The article starts by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of planetary boundaries from a social science perspective. It is argued that the growth imperative of capitalist economies, as well as other particular characteristics detailed below, are the main drivers of the ecological crisis and exacerbated trends already underway. Further, the planetary boundaries framework can support interpretations that do not solely emphasize technocratic operational approaches and costs, but also assume that these alone can be the solution.


Phase-out or lock-in fossil fuels? Least developed countries’ burning dilemma

September 2022

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21 Reads

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11 Citations

The Extractive Industries and Society

The Group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs)—motivated by the climate crisis that disproportionately affects them and is predominately driven by fossil fuels—has taken a lead role in pressuring the Group of Twenty (G20) states to phase-out the production of fossil fuels. This effort is central in the development of new “supply side” climate politics. Yet, many LDCs are at the same time receiving assistance from G20 nations to expand their domestic fossil fuel production. In short, LDCs are at a crossroads of leading supply-side climate policies that are essential in the climate mitigation effort, while also actively using G20 investment and capacity to extract fossil fuels. Resolving this tension is critically important for LDCs to meet their sustainable development goals and in the global effort to reduce emissions dramatically by mid-century. Here we trace the implications and dynamics of this phase-out/lock-in tension and possibilities for redirecting G20 investment toward low-carbon developments in LDCs.


Overcoming Divisive Strategic Environmental Assessments for Offshore Oil and Gas in Nova Scotia, Canada

April 2022

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51 Reads

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10 Citations

Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management

In Nova Scotia, strategic environmental assessments (SEAs) are used to scope the potential impacts of offshore oil and gas activities in the early stages of regulatory decision-making. This study examined stakeholder perceptions and involvement in SEAs for offshore oil and gas decisions on areas being opened by the provincial government for development. Stakeholder comments from 12 SEAs (2003–2019) were evaluated, and 25 interviews with strategic actors involved in the assessments were undertaken and coded. The results reveal actors in Nova Scotia are divided over the effectiveness of a sector-specific SEA: while federal–provincial governments and the regulator were satisfied with SEA function, non-governmental stakeholders questioned the credibility of the regulator as well as the intent and utility of SEAs. Policy recommendations are outlined to remedy gaps in SEA processes, notably implementing integrated management via marine spatial planning in the region.


Stepping stones to keep fossil fuels in the ground: Insights for a global wind down from Ireland

October 2021

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35 Reads

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14 Citations

The Extractive Industries and Society

National bans on fossil fuel exploration and/or extraction are a burgeoning policy approach to addressing the climate crisis (Carter and McKenzie 2020). This article focuses on explaining the rise of “keep it in the ground” legislation in Ireland, one of the global first-mover cases. To improve upon its lacklustre climate policy reputation, Ireland has advanced several innovative climate initiatives, including bans on fossil fuel production. Informed by interviews with Irish policymakers, elected officials, researchers, and representatives of civil society, industry, and labour organizations, as well as by previous theoretical work on decarbonization acceleration, we identify conditions that fostered these bans and might be replicated elsewhere. Notably, a diverse and internationally-connected coalition of civil society organizations developed a multi-pronged strategy and locally resonant messages to keep fossil fuels in the ground. The movement was coordinated by a credible organization with political access and built from earlier local campaigns, and was aided by prominent individuals, within and outside of government, who lent legitimacy and policy access to the movement. More broadly, we find that fossil fuel supply curtailment can be achieved by building political momentum through a progression of bills targeting particular fossil fuel projects, fossil fuel investments, then production more generally.


From planetary to societal boundaries: an argument for collectively defined self-limitation

July 2021

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1,754 Reads

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209 Citations

Sustainability Science Practice and Policy

The planetary boundaries concept has profoundly changed the vocabulary and representation of global environmental issues. We bring a critical social science perspective to this framework through the notion of societal boundaries and aim to provide a more nuanced understanding of the social nature of thresholds. We start by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of planetary boundaries from a social science perspective. We then focus on capitalist societies as a heuristic for discussing the expansionary dynamics, power relations, and lock-ins of modern societies that impel highly unsustainable societal relations with nature. While formulating societal boundaries implies a controversial process-based on normative judgments, ethical concerns, and socio-political struggles-it has the potential to offer guidelines for a just, social-ecological transformation. Collective autonomy and the politics of self-limitation are key elements of societal boundaries and are linked to important proposals and pluriverse experiences to integrate well-being and boundaries. The role of the state and propositions for radical alternative approaches to well-being have particular importance. We conclude with reflections on social freedom, defined as the right not to live at others' expense. Toward the aim of defining boundaries through transdisciplinary and democratic processes, we seek to open a dialogue on these issues.


Correcting Canada's "one eye shut" climate policy

April 2021

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100 Reads

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13 Citations

Meeting Canada’s climate commitments requires ending supports for, and beginning a gradual phase out of, oil and gas production. This paper shows how growing oil and gas production is impeding Canada from meeting its climate commitments, outlines how the federal government is supporting oil and gas production growth, and recommends specific policies the federal government could adopt in the near-term to begin a phase out of oil and gas production.


However the pandemic unfolds, it’s time for oil use to peak—and society to prepare for the fallout

September 2020

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27 Reads

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6 Citations

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

The decline of oil’s dominance will start with a peak in demand. Reaching that peak quickly is an essential goal, even if things will likely spin out of control from there. If humanity is to avoid staggering harm from climate change, carbon emissions must fall sharply very soon, which implies that humanity’s use of fossil fuels must start to decline soon. As people grasp this imperative, they’ll work to seize this moment when the oil industry has stumbled. The coronavirus pandemic presents activists with several openings to keep oil demand from ever returning to its pre-pandemic peak.


Citations (19)


... 3 This coalition is transnational given that it encompasses LDCs' negotiators who actively participate in the negotiations and observers who participate in "side events" that occur outside the formal negotiations. At COP negotiations, the LDC Group, accounting for 4% of emissions but unevenly bearing the brunt of climate catastrophes, has been pressuring the Group of Twenty countries, responsible for 80% of emissions, to phase out of fossil fuels and subsidies (Saha & Carter, 2022). In doing so, LDCs' negotiators take the lead on confronting incumbents who impede global mitigation policies by blocking fossil fuel-related decisions in negotiations. ...

Reference:

Least developed countries versus fossil fuel incumbents: strategies, divisions, and barriers at the United Nations climate negotiations
Phase-out or lock-in fossil fuels? Least developed countries’ burning dilemma
  • Citing Article
  • September 2022

The Extractive Industries and Society

... If governments are compromised, their regulatory aims will be skewed to suit their new political agenda. When powerful interests buy off government officials, they may use their newfound influence to change the rules in their favor claims (Kapoor et al. 2021). It is fair to believe that a country's unique institutional context, as expressed in its official and unwritten norms of economic transaction, will determine the process and the consequences of a regulatory system. ...

Overcoming Divisive Strategic Environmental Assessments for Offshore Oil and Gas in Nova Scotia, Canada
  • Citing Article
  • April 2022

Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management

... The Corrib gas controversy, in tandem with legal challenges to climate policy, have fuelled debates about how indigenous hydrocarbons should be managed in the midst of the climate and ecological emergency (which the Irish Parliament declared in May 2019). In addition, the gas conflict and broader climate justice activism unveiled broader struggles surrounding state-industry relations and 'the dominance of the fossil fuel sector' (McKenzie & Carter, 2021). Not only has the oil industry long influenced state policy around extractivism (Collins, 1977;Eipper, 1986;CPI, 2015;McCabe, 2011;Slevin, 2016), the state is subject to the vagaries of the industry, global oil trading patterns and prices, largely because of its dependency on imported fossil fuels. ...

Stepping stones to keep fossil fuels in the ground: Insights for a global wind down from Ireland
  • Citing Article
  • October 2021

The Extractive Industries and Society

... Whether negative emissions on such a scale are feasible and meaningful is highly debated [13,[17][18][19][20][21]. Moreover, not only is the temperature limit of the Paris Agreement about to be exceeded [61] but also other planetary boundaries [62] and social boundaries [63]. ...

From planetary to societal boundaries: an argument for collectively defined self-limitation

Sustainability Science Practice and Policy

... Also, financial institutions' climate disclosure has improved due to renewed commitments by banks, including the major Canadian chartered banks, to become net zero by 2050. Overall, it is unclear how banks intend to achieve their carbon emission reduction goal considering their current loan allocation, climate exposure to high emitting sectors and continued exposure of Canadian financial institutions to fossil fuel investments and lending (Carter & Dordi, 2021). ...

Correcting Canada's "one eye shut" climate policy

... Un ambicioso pero factible objetivo, es proteger un tercio de los océanos para reponer pesquerías, conservar la biodiversidad y secuestrar carbono como apoyo a la adaptación del cambio climático [100]. Los beneficios de dicha protección, incluyen un aumento en la captura mundial de peces de 10 millones de toneladas métricas [101], y la liberación de nuevos productos farmacéuticos provenientes del mar, especialmente antivirales que podrían ayudar a responder a EIE como el COVID-19 [102]. ...

However the pandemic unfolds, it’s time for oil use to peak—and society to prepare for the fallout
  • Citing Article
  • September 2020

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

... In practice, there are existing policies that seek to address specific fossil fuels, like coal (Rentier et al., 2019) and oil (Deshmukh et al., 2023), and policies that target different stages in the fossil fuel value chain, such as exploration and extraction (Carter & McKenzie, 2020). Such policies can take a variety of forms, from command-and-control instruments, where countries limit production in biodiversity hotspots, to more market-based instruments, such as voluntarybased trading frameworks (Lazarus et al., 2015). ...

Amplifying “Keep It in the Ground” First-Movers: Toward a Comparative Framework
  • Citing Article
  • June 2020

... The establishment of the 'climate-finance nexus', or rather the intermingling of financial and climate concerns, has been noted by many authors (Bridge et al. 2020;Castree and Christophers 2015;Chiapello 2020b;Langley et al. 2021). Moreover, Strauch, Dordi, and Carter (2020) have detailed how the claim that financial assets are at risk in the move away from a carbon economy, was established as mainstream through the 2010s. Both these movements, how finance is attributed a larger role in the management of climate change and how climate change is viewed as a risk to financial assets, are part of the intersection of climate change governance and financial concerns. ...

Constraining fossil fuels based on 2 °C carbon budgets: the rapid adoption of a transformative concept in politics and finance

Climatic Change

... Furthermore, the BC Supreme Court ruled that the provincial government did not adequately consult with the Tsimshian and other Indigenous communities. This controversial project demonstrates the importance of legitimacy and acceptance from impacted communities in Canada (Thistlethwaite et al., 2019). ...

The Northern Gateway Pipeline: Seeking Consensus Is a Slippery Business
  • Citing Book
  • April 2019

... This potential bias would be particularly pronounced in programs that rely almost entirely on opportunistic finding and capture by community members who are not strictly engaged in formal seabird search efforts (e.g., Deppe et al., 2017;Le Corre et al., 2002;Rodrigues et al., 2012;Rodríguez & Rodríguez, 2009;Rodríguez, Rodríguez, Curbelo, et al., 2012;Rodríguez, Rodríguez, & Lucas, 2012;Salamolard et al., 2007). The same problem exists at many industrial sites, including offshore oil infrastructure, where searching for and reporting of stranded seabirds tends to be opportunistic (Fraser & Carter, 2018;Gjerdrum et al., 2021). At night, the detection probability of stranded seabirds by the public is presumably increased in areas of higher human activity and lighting levels, for example, roads, parking lots, public buildings, private dwellings, etc., thereby inadvertently resulting in a bias toward searching in well-lit areas. ...

Seabird Attraction to Artificial Light in Newfoundland and Labrador’s Offshore Oil Fields: Documenting Failed Regulatory Governance
  • Citing Article
  • June 2018

Ocean Yearbook Online