Sierra Club Canada Responds Regarding Bay du Nord Benefits Agreement
Polling and Economics Show a Renewable Path is More Beneficial
Media Statement: For Immediate Release, March 3rd, 2026
Sierra Club Canada is highly concerned in light of today’s benefit agreement between the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and Equinor on the Bay du Nord project. We are available for comment.
They point to future demand for oil and well as price volatility as reasons the province should not bet on the project proceeding and should rapidly explore other economic options including offshore wind power. The Club also highlights recent polling from two different sources that shows Newfoundlanders and Labradorians (79%) – and Canadians in general – would vastly prefer renewables as an energy sovereignty and national security solution.
Sierra Club Canada warns against the Provincial Government investing in the Bay du Nord project when public money would be better spent on alternative industries and renewables. A decline in oil and gas revenue cannot be avoided no matter what actions are taken by the Provincial and Federal governments – including giving up a billion dollars in taxes on a highly profitable companies (Equinor/BP).
The International Energy Agency still expects oil demand to plateau around 2030 due to the global transition to renewable energy, and there are enough oil projects already to meet that demand. Recent oil and gas price volatility, brought on by U.S. foreign policy – as well as U.S. actions to cut off oil supplies to Cuba are likely to convince oil and gas importing countries around the world to adopt renewable energy at an either faster rate than before as renewables paired with battery storage provide localized, reliable, and comparably cheap, energy.
“We keep looking to rely on the ever-delayed Bay du Nord project to give us jobs and so much more. It’s no secret that the project has been losing momentum, and so we must look to the future of energy in Newfoundland and Labrador. Exploring alternatives like offshore wind and its benefits can unlock unrecognized benefits that we’ve seen in places like New York and can expect in Nova Scotia,” says Sierra Club Canada’s NL Energy Transition and Advocacy Coordinator Kassandra Drodge, whose home is St. John’s, and who recently attended the Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CANRea) Operators Summit 2026.
“We need to be focusing on jobs that bring cheaper cleaner energy to the homes of people. Oil prices are more volatile than ever and we cannot count on Bay du Nord to provide a cheap oil or a stable economic future for the province when there’s revenue and job producing wind projects happening in other energy markets.”
Polling by Abacus Data from September 2025 found 79% of people living in Newfoundland and Labrador would feel pride if Canada were to become a renewable energy superpower versus an oil and gas superpower (as well as 70% across the country and 56% in Alberta).
Recent (February 4-13, 2026) poll findings by Opinium additionally found:
- 58% of Canadians say transitioning away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy is more important than ever, in light of recent events (only 11% say less);
- 67% say reliance on oil and gas increases the risk of international conflict;
- 59% believe Canada would be safer if it produced more renewable energy, in light of recent events.
[For these poll results in full contact us at Media@sierraclub.ca]
Donald Trump has already indicated a desire to see oil prices go “lower than even before” once his war on Iran “ends.” These statements cannot be relied upon, but speak to the inherent volatility of oil and gas prices with a chaotic U.S. Administration whose priorities seems to change constantly.
-30-
For interviews please contact: Media@sierraclub.ca
More Background (Media Are Welcome to Quote):
Sierra Club Canada is continuing its work to research and highlight renewable alternatives and electrification solutions for both revenue and jobs: from longer term projects in the conceptual phase, like a Newfoundland and Labrador to the United Kingdom / EU electric transmission cable (2), to community-based renewable solutions that could start being rolled out tomorrow (3).
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)
A separate report by the ACCR assessed ten major oil and gas companies, including Equinor, and found that:
“Global conventional oil and gas exploration is becoming less successful, more expensive and is taking longer. Project execution – a critical driver of value – has typically been poor, with projects delivered late and over budget. The addressable market for oil and gas is diminishing as more sectors electrify. Despite this, the oil and gas majors are assuming that oil prices in 2030 will be around 17% higher than those implied by the forward curve…. Despite the rhetoric on capital discipline, the oil and gas sector is continuing to bet on a future that may never arrive.” (5)
As Oil Change International pointed 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 peak in fossil fuels is still expected under the baseline trajectory of STEPS, which sees a near-tripling of renewable capacity by 2035, even after accounting for U.S. policy backsliding. The IEA [still] expects coal to decline before 2030, oil to peak around 2030, and gas to peak around 2035…. Crucially, the IEA clarifies that the Current Policies Scenario (CPS), an obsolete, fossil-fuel heavy scenario reintroduced under U.S. pressure, does not reflect ‘business-as-usual’. Instead, it implausibly assumes that existing policies and technology trends freeze or roll back, portraying a U.S. administration fantasy rather than the reality of today’s rapidly evolving energy market.” (6)
Angela Antle, writing in a local publication The Independent NL, examined how oil and gas corporations have cut jobs, even when production increases, and how the contribution to local and national economies from the oil and gas sector in terms of jobs has been inflated. Antle argues that:
“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…. Instead of throwing taxpayer subsidies at an incredibly profitable oil company like Equinor—whose gross profits for the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2025 was $53.8 billion—surely using that money to help workers transition to job market realities is a far better use of public money.” (7)
As energy journalist Mitchell Beer wrote in a similar assessment:
“Every fossil company everywhere wants investors, governments, and citizens to think, even against the thinnest of evidence, it will be the last one standing as its business steadily crashes. But times are already tough, and the tell comes from two of the industry’s biggest voices: a branch of the U.S. Federal Reserve, and the world’s oil and gas cartel…. The problem is that citizens, rather than fossil companies and their shareholders, might be stuck picking up the tab.” (8)
Sources:
(1) https://www.neso.energy/news/unveiling-new-project-pipeline-deliver-clean-power-2030
(2) https://www.sierraclub.ca/newfoundland-and-labrador-europe-electric-transmission/ AND https://nato-l.com/
(3) https://www.sierraclub.ca/community-drive-transition-renewables/
(4) https://www.theenergymix.com/breaking-with-pipeline-deal-coming-soon-new-analysis-shows-big-risks-for-investors-crushing-losses-for-provinces/ AND https://carbontracker.org/reports/petro-provinces-at-risk/
(5) https://www.accr.org.au/research/when-growth-no-longer-pays-re-thinking-value-for-oil-and-gas-companies/
(6) https://oilchange.org/news/weo-shows-oil-and-coal-still-set-to-peak-contrary-to-u-s-pushed-narrative-but-urgent-action-needed-to-speed-fossil-fuel-phase-out-to-keep-1-5oc-alive/
(7) https://theindependent.ca/commentary/energy-futures/why-taxpayer-subsidies-for-big-oil-wont-create-more-jobs/
(8) https://energymixweekender.substack.com/p/oil-is-faltering-renewables-will
