June 2023
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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