CALGARY, MONTREAL, OTTAWA, TORONTO, VANCOUVER, WINNIPEG — Prominent climate and clean energy experts across Canada are today urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to reach a final agreement on crucial aspects of the Alberta-Ottawa memorandum of understanding (MOU) on climate and energy policies, which is now more than a month beyond its deadline of April 1.
In a joint letter sent to the prime minister today, the leaders of the Pembina Institute, Clean Energy Canada, Climate Action Network, Environmental Defence, Equiterre, and International Institute for Sustainable Development emphasize the precariousness of the current moment – with countries around the world ramping up efforts to reduce their dependence on oil and gas imports, just as Canada appears at risk of making a “consequential miscalculation” by placing too great a focus on the oil and gas industry at the expense of clean growth sectors.
“While countries across Asia and Europe engage in short-term energy rationing and longer-term restructuring of their economies away from oil and gas dependence and towards domestically produced clean electricity, here in Canada, we are stuck in an unhelpful feedback loop of discourse about the need for more oil and gas infrastructure and the loosening of environmental regulations on multi-billion dollar oil and gas companies,” reads the letter.
“Nowhere is this more evident than in the delay to the promised resolution of the Alberta-federal memorandum of understanding (MOU) on energy and climate policies”.
The letter urges specific outcomes on three key aspects of the MOU: industrial carbon pricing, clean electricity development, and methane rules for oil and gas producers. It refers to these, and the MOU more broadly, as the prime minister’s “most consequential opportunity” to turn “words into action” on building a strong, futureproofed Canadian economy.
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Key facts on the Iran war and the energy transition
- Several countries including the United States, UK, Australia, South Korea, Germany and Malaysia have reported spiking sales or signs of elevated consumer interest in electric vehicles since the war began. The surge has been particularly marked in Asia, where consumers are most exposed to the current oil supply shock.
- 1.75 million electric vehicles were sold globally in March 2026, a 66% increase on the previous month.
- Energy rationing is underway across the world, with the International Energy Agency tracking more than 40 countries where governments are urging citizens to take steps to conserve energy, such as limiting use of air conditioning in tropical climates, or minimizing daily commutes.
- There are signs of countries rethinking previously approved oil and gas projects in light of the crisis. For example, plans for construction of Vietnam’s largest ever LNG import project are on pause, with investors citing the Iran war’s impact on global LNG supplies as a consideration in switching to a renewable energy project instead.
Contact
Director, Communications, Pembina Institute
825-994-2558
