Canada Can Go 100% Renewable
Not only can Canada go 100% renewable, it would create more jobs and be better for energy security than investing in oil and gas development and renewables generate vital revenue. We already have solutions (see sources below) for when the sun does not shine or the wind doesn’t blow such as interconnecting grids, diversified renewables, energy storage, and energy efficiency.
Oil and gas corporations, and their friends in the U.S. Administration, have been lying to the public about climate change, and have been trying to delay renewables like wind power by spreading misinformation about them, and now we’re paying the price. Air pollution from fossil fuels kills 5 million people each year globally.
Severe storms like Hurricane Fiona, and wildfires like the Jasper wildfire and those in Newfoundland and Labrador have been made many times more likely and more severe because of climate change.
And renewable energy is popular:
72% of Albertans wish to maintain or increase federal climate action and action to transition the country to clean energy. Recent polling showed 65-67% of Canadians nationally want renewables instead of oil & gas development (it’s 77% in BC). A majority of Canadians continue to oppose oil and gas subsidies. Fewer than 1 in 5 Canadians want their tax dollars going to largely foreign-owned companies to build more LNG projects. As of September 2025, “70 per cent of the public would feel pride if Canada were to become a renewable energy superpower, versus only 30 percent feeling that way about becoming an oil and gas superpower…. These results include a majority of Albertans (56 per cent) and 79 per cent of people living in Newfoundland and Labrador.”
A majority of Canadians say reliance on oil and gas increases the risk of international conflict (67%), believe Canada would be safer if it produced more renewable energy (59%), and a majority say transitioning away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy is more important than ever (58%) only 11% say it’s less important.
Renewables are also a great way to help insulate Canada from the volatility of oil and gas prices and the aggression of foreign countries that try to use that volatility to their benefit. Renewables can also help localize power production – moving us away from vulnerable singular centralized power sources – putting control and benefits into the hands of communities and making it so no one can cut off local energy.
Indeed it is oil and gas, not renewables, that are the true liability.
It also doesn’t make sense for our Federal and Provincial governments to continue pursuing oil and gas development in a world rapidly shifting to renewable energy: Global demand for oil and gas is set to peak in the next few years and then decline, and there are enough projects already underway to meet that demand.
So instead of setting in motion future climate impacts like more extreme storms, wildfires, and floods, let’s invest now in renewable energy solutions. Let’s help communities and workers access better jobs and cheaper energy.
Sign our pledge and let our leaders know you plan to help Canada go renewable.
More Information / Sources:
On why wind and solar paired with batteries and grid solutions negate the need for gas plants and new fossil fuel infrastructure:
“Battery storage can now meet peak demand at a much lower cost than thermal power plants. In addition, renewable energy projects come online much faster—between six and eighteen months for solar—and carry less risk of cost overruns…. PROENERGY the company promoting the project, is headquartered in Missouri, and the gas burned in the proposed plant will come from the Marcellus and Utica shales in the United States.”
- New Research Challenges Need for Baseload Power Plants, German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech) summary in The Energy Mix, 2024.
- Baseload myths and why we need to change how we look at our grid: It is a meaningless concept at the least and dangerous at its worst, Pembina Institute 2017.
- Did Renewable Energy like Wind and Solar Really Damage the Alberta Power Grid? The answer is no (podcast on the huge roles renewable energy like solar and wind, and battery storage, played in helping to solve a freezing temperature power crisis in Alberta).
- The Energy Mix coverage on battery storage in Canada and elsewhere.
- The Energy Mix coverage on renewable energy generally in Canada and elsewhere.
- Oil and gas-linked climate skeptics are trying to hold back renewable energy.
- Excess renewables generation did NOT cause Iberian blackout.
- Batteries for the grid also work in cold climates.
- In the U.S. “wind companies rank among the biggest taxpayers in many rural communities, with their total tax bills at times outstripping that of large farms, power plants and other major businesses…. Farmers who sign wind leases can also continue farming most of their land while adding additional revenue.” Farmers can use renewable power generation to create more income by selling back power to the grid and can use renewables to power electric farm equipment that is already cheaper in many cases than fossil fuel-based farm equipment.
- Indeed supply chain disruptions cause by international factors beyond our control – and resulting price volatility – mean it is oil and gas that are intermittent and unreliable, not renewables.
On oil and gas demand and the reasons why no new oil and gas projects will be needed:
- Oil Change International points out recent claims that oil and gas demand would continue to grow globally past the early 2030s are based on a single, faulty, scenario that the International Energy Agency (IEA) had previously abandoned and only re-published following pressure from the current U.S. Administration.
- A summary of sources on why Bay du Nord and offshore oil are particularly economically unviable given coming drops in demand.
- A summary of various sources with links to more information on oil and gas demand peaking in the 2030s, why AI data centres prefer renewable energy, and why renewables are taking off globally (focussed on LNG but with sources concerning oil demand as well).
- A November 2025 report by the UK-based Carbon Tracker shows a stark picture of the revenue losses provincial governments will face in the next decade as oil and gas demand dries up globally:
- “By 85% in Alberta, from $153 billion to $23 billion;
- By 72% in British Columbia, from $47 billion to $13 billion;
- By 78% in Saskatchewan, from $16 billion to $3.5 billion;
- By nearly 100% in Newfoundland and Labrador, from $4.4 billion to $300 million.” (4).
- Report by the ACCR assessed ten major oil and gas companies, including Equinor.
- Equinor’s stock downgraded due in part to continued consideration of Bay du Nord.
- “The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) found that Newfoundland and Labrador subsidized fossil fuel companies to the tune of $82 million in 2020-2021 and even more the following year.”
- LNG is unlikely to replace coal overseas; analysts confirm that renewable energy – not LNG – is the biggest competitor to coal in both China and India.
- Further, “achieving the UK’s net zero target by 2050 will cost less than a single oil shock [costs] and bring health and economic benefits while insulating the country against future costs.”
Other Renewable Energy Fact Sheets:
- Wind Energy Facts: Reliable, cheap, provides both jobs and revenue.
- Electric vehicle facts.
- Related: Listen to our Sovereignty Saturdays Podcast sub-series on the connections between climate action and sovereignty.
Canadians are strongly opposed to foreign aggression to secure access to natural resources.
- 70% say that it’s completely unacceptable for one country to use military force to take control of another nation’s resources
- 72% percent say it would be unacceptable for the United States to have arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to access oil reserves
- 80% say it would be unacceptable for the United States to seize Greenland for its natural resources.