In light of recent cooperation agreements between Canada and Germany on clean mobility and critical minerals, we sat down with Monica Curtis, Senior Director of Communities and Decarbonization at the Pembina Institute, to discuss the forces shaping Canada's clean energy future.
From Pembina's strategic priorities for 2026 to the key takeaways of their landmark Pembina Summit, Curtis offers candid reflections on what it will take to accelerate Canada's clean transition. She also shares her perspective on Mark Carney's political rise, the provinces' evolving role in the clean economy, and what shifting geopolitics can mean for climate and energy cooperation between Canada and Europe.
As Pembina enters 2026, what are the Institute's most pressing priorities, opportunities and challenges?
In Canada, and around the world, we’re in the midst of a “polycrisis”: affordability, housing, climate, health, and economic and social instability. Now more than ever, we need solutions that bring us together and solve numerous problems at once. Electrification is the only overarching energy policy that simultaneously supports economic prosperity, creates jobs, provides affordable energy, improves health, reduces carbon emissions and enhances Canada’s climate leadership, bolsters national energy security and builds Canada’s geopolitical resilience.
Pembina’s three-pronged approach – increase the efficiency of energy use (energy productivity), increase electrification of buildings, transportation and industrial processing, and expand the supply of clean energy – is at the heart of our work. Through research, convening, education and advocacy we explore barriers to implementing energy efficiency, electrification and distributed energy resources, create opportunities for industry, government and civil society to come together to explore solutions, and drive for government policy that supports impactful climate action that also supports a strong economy.
The TCB had the privilege of co-hosting Pembina's Summit: Inner Circle, which brought together a remarkable breadth of voices, from policymakers to civil society, around electrification in BC. As you prepare the forthcoming white paper, what do you see as the most surprising or counterintuitive insight to emerge from those conversations, and what do you hope its most lasting impact will be?
It’s the storytelling.
The Summit, in many ways, reinforced the technical recommendations that our research and others have been raising. While there is always the need for continued innovation, the technology needed to double energy productivity (output per unit of energy), double electrification and double renewable and distributed energy resources exist today. Industry and policy fragmentation complicates commercialization of these technologies, with regulatory reform, workforce development and coordinated industrial strategies needed to break down silos, drive adoption and foster investment.
But it’s the stories that will have the lasting impact. It’s the laughter that filled the room as small groups of leaders – from the utility executive to the owner of an electric vehicle charging company to a government deputy minister – found common ground. It’s the Indigenous community leader who shared feeling heard and represented in the policy discussion. The lasting lesson comes in seeing how important conversation - and the resulting shared narrative - is to advance the technology and policy needed to enable the energy transition.
With Prime Minister Mark Carney on the national and international political stage, envisioning nation-building projects for Canada, how do you see the prospects for a coherent pan-Canadian approach to the energy transition and what role do the provinces play in that? Where does Pembina see the greatest opportunity to move the needle?
In Canada, four levels of government – federal, provincial, municipal and Indigenous – each have an important role in enabling investment in energy efficiency and electrification, modernization of the electricity grid and development of clean energy supply. While a single, coherent pan-Canadian approach that includes energy efficiency, electrification and clean electricity is not realistic, we are seeing real progress through major projects, program collaborations and industrial strategies.
Through the creation of Build Canada Homes, the federal government is centralizing its social housing investment. As a single entity, it brings a pan-Canadian framework, from the use of federal lands to new construction in hard to serve markets and serving as a secure customer to accelerate commercialization of modern construction methods.
Inter-provincial electricity transmission has been a long-standing challenge for Canada. All 10 provincial governments recently issued a joint memorandum of agreement to address inter-provincial barriers that have slowed transmission construction with initial projects already proposed to the federal Major Projects office.
The federal government is introducing a series of sector strategies, signaling a shift to cross-sectoral and multijurisdictional planning. The sectoral approach bundles economic, climate, workforce development and related policies and supports into a single strategy. The recent Auto Strategy offers one example. The strategy components range from consumer rebates to stimulate domestic market demand to vehicle emission standards to investments and tax credits for supply chain and charging infrastructure development, to international trade policy.
The recently signed Germany–Canada electric vehicle (EV) deal signals a deepening of bilateral ties around clean mobility, how do you think this agreement reshapes the landscape for Canadian EV policy and industrial strategy, and what conditions would need to be in place for it to deliver its full potential?
The Germany-Canada EV deal provides concrete steps towards realizing the vision outlined in Canada’s auto sector strategy. Canada offers essential building blocks to the EV supply chain, specifically critical minerals, battery processing, a highly decarbonized electricity system, and a ready workforce. As a partner, investor and customer, Germany’s participation in supply chain development in Canada will advance this sector faster. Likewise, Germany will contribute automotive expertise, world-leading technologies, auto manufacturing and a well-established dealer network that can contribute to meeting Canada’s 2035 target of 75% domestic EV sales.
Given the current geopolitical climate, from shifting US trade dynamics to Europe's ongoing energy security concerns, how do you see the relationship between Canada and Europe evolving on energy and climate policy, and where do you think there is the most genuine alignment versus where the fault lines remain?
Canada, the European Union and individual countries within the EU have close and long-standing relationships built on shared history and values. This extends to cooperation on energy and climate policy, with recent geopolitical shifts further strengthening ties. From low-carbon cement and steel, mass timber, high performance building expertise and modern construction methods, to electric vehicle and battery supply chains, to carbon capture, storage and trading and renewable energy, including hydrogen and nuclear, Canada has the resource base, clean electricity system and workforce readiness to contribute to industrial and export activity that also supports climate policy and the global energy transition. Europe is a leader in clean technology, cross-border regulatory alignment, carbon pricing, climate disclosure and the like. This moment in time creates opportunity for middle powers, including Canada and Germany and other members of the EU to further build on existing global partnerships. The numerous agreements signed in recent months, from energy and electric vehicles to digital trade, defense, professional services and regulatory cooperation, are clear signs of the importance of these relationships.
There has been a pivot to embed climate policy into industrial and trade strategies. While there are many benefits to incorporating climate action into economic policy, diligence is needed to ensure the climate benefits are realized. Learning from each other offers one platform, amongst many, to foster genuine alignment. Dialogues, such as the recent Summit co-hosted by the Pembina Institute and adelphi with the Clean Economy Bridge, contributes to that knowledge sharing and relationship building.