Keeping fossil fuels in the ground: The future of climate policy?

To prevent worst-case-scenario climate crises, the global community must bring down greenhouse gas emissions — dramatically and immediately. This webinar explores a promising new approach to climate policy, focused on keeping fossil fuels in the ground. Communities and non-governmental organizations have been attempting to stop the flow of fossil fuels for decades, as seen in widespread social mobilization against fracking and bitumen pipelines. But since 2017, this approach has begun to emerge in mainstream policy debates, with a wave of countries beginning to ban exploration or extraction. This webinar explores the rise of these groundbreaking bans and reflects on what they might mean for Canada, a major fossil fuel producer, and our “petro-provinces.”

About the speaker:

Dr. Angela Carter is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Balsillie School of International Affairs and Co-Chair of the Climate Justice Working Group at the University of Waterloo. Her new book, Fossilized: Environmental Policy in Canada's Petro-Provinces, analyzes environmental policy and politics surrounding oil extraction in Canada’s major oil producing provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland & Labrador). Carter is now extending this work in an international comparative project on supply-side climate policy, focused on the political conditions necessary to wind down fossil fuel extraction in developed-world states.  She is particularly intrigued by the rise of “keep it in the ground” movements and legislation.