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This week, our guest is Matt Jamieson, President and CEO of the Six Nations of Grand River Development Corporation (SNGRDC). SNGRDC’s mission is to achieve economic self-sufficiency for their community by 2030. 
The Six Nations of the Grand River is located near Toronto and is Canada's most populated First Nation, with just over 30,000 members.  The Nation has established the Six Nations of Grand River Development Corporation, which has a separate governance and decision-making structure from the Nation’s political decision-making structure.  The corporation has become an equity partner in a variety of renewable energy projects, including transmission, wind, solar, and battery storage. The corporation has ambitious goals for delivering economic benefits to the community, targeting $150 million annually by 2030 in direct economic impact to the Nation.   
Here are some of the questions Peter and Jackie asked Matt Jamieson: Why was a separate governance structure used for the corporation? What types of projects are you involved in?  How did you finance your equity share in these projects with your partners? Tell us about the Niagara Reinforcement Line and the Oneida Energy Storage Project? How has consultation with Indigenous communities on these types of projects changed over the past decade? What are your thoughts on the Fall Economic Statement that the Liberal government could introduce a multibillion-dollar loan program to help Indigenous groups in Canada buy equity in resource projects? What is your advice to Indigenous communities and companies who want to work with them on how to get started? 

Other content referenced in this podcast: 
Six Nations of Grand River Development Corporation Website  Please review our disclaimer at: https://www.arcenergyinstitute.com/disclaimer/  
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LinkedIn: @ARC Energy Research Institute 


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This week, Kelly Shue, Professor of Finance at Yale School of Management, joins the podcast.  Earlier this year, Professor Shue and her co-author, Professor Samuel M. Hartzmark, published “Counterproductive Sustainable Investing: The Impact Elasticity of Brown and Green Firms.”  Their research paper concludes that the sustainable investing practice of divesting high-emitting companies (referred to as “brown” firms) in favor of low-emitting companies (referred to as “green” firms) is counterproductive to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Here are some of the questions that Peter and Jackie ask Professor Shue: Why did you conclude that the sustainable investing practice of divesting away from high-carbon companies towards low-carbon ones is counterproductive? What are some examples of “brown” and “green” companies?  What are the shortcomings of measuring the percentage GHG emission reduction of a company, as opposed to absolute reductions? Were you surprised to learn that oil, gas, and energy-producing firms are key innovators in the United States’ green patent landscape? What are your thoughts on the anti-ESG movement, where some US states are asking their pension funds to divest ESG-orientated companies? Do you think institutional investors, who have made hard goals around reducing their financed emissions, should consider changing these goals? What are the shortcomings in using the company-level ESG ratings provided by firms such as Sustainalytics, MSCI, and Bloomberg to identify green companies?

Other content referenced in this podcast:
-   Counterproductive Sustainable Investing: The Impact Elasticity of Brown and Green Firms (2023) 
-  The ESG-Innovation Disconnect: Evidence from Green Patenting (2021) 
-  Yale Insights: Green Investing Could Push Polluters to Emit More Greenhouse Gases (2023) 


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This week, our guest is Paolo Maccario, President and CEO of Silfab Solar. Silfab Solar is a Canadian company headquartered in Mississauga that manufactures solar panels in Ontario, Washington State, and South Carolina.  The South Carolina facility will manufacture solar panels and cells with operations expected to be online in the third quarter of 2024.  Cells are a critical input to making modules, and the South Carolina facility will be the first of its kind in North America. 
Paolo explains that with the significant incentives offered in the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Canada is unable to compete with the United States to attract investment in solar panel manufacturing facilities. 

Here are some of the questions that Peter and Jackie ask Paolo: Why have the share prices for publicly traded solar manufacturing companies fallen this year?  How has solar panel pricing changed in the past year? Have the US tariffs on Chinese panels resulted in a boost for US domestic manufacturing?  How impactful are the IRA incentives for solar manufacturing, both the production tax credit (PTC) and the investment tax credit (ITC)? How do the incentives in Canada compare with the United States?  What is the efficiency of solar panels today, and is there room for improvement?  How can manufacturers keep up with the rapid pace of technical innovation?  What is the state of solar panel recycling?  The Canadian government has offered more generous incentives for producing lithium-ion batteries, how do the jobs for manufacturing batteries compare with solar panels?  

Other content referenced in this podcast: 
Silfab Solar Sustainability Impact Report ARC Financial Sustainability Report  Please review our disclaimer at: https://www.arcenergyinstitute.com/disclaimer/  
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This week, Jean-Denis Charlebois joins the podcast. Jean-Denis is the Chief Economist at the Canada Energy Regulator (CER).  The CER released a report in June outlining three potential future energy scenarios, titled “Canada’s Energy Future 2023: Energy Supply and Demand Projections to 2050.”  

Here are some of the questions Peter and Jackie asked Jean-Denis: Why did the CER publish net-zero scenarios for the first time in this recent edition? Are you concerned about how these scenarios are implicitly being used as predictions by politicians or other commentators on energy in Canada?  How much does Canadian electricity consumption increase in the CER scenarios? What is the potential market share for heat pumps? How does the mix of power generation change?  What is the future cost of carbon? Canada’s oil production is assumed to decline significantly in the net-zero scenarios; however, could supply be more resilient considering Canada's advantages as a stable, secure, and low-carbon supplier? What energy-focused capital spending is required for the Canadian net-zero scenarios, and how does that compare with history?  

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This week, Peter and Jackie discuss recent news headlines, including some scary topics on this Halloween podcast recording. Here are some of the topics they discussed:
· Rising geopolitical risks.  Why are the oil markets calm in the face of the Israel-Hamas conflict and the potential for an oil outage? 


· ExxonMobil and Chevron announce significant acquisitions.  In contrast to the news headlines, Peter and Jackie argue that these acquisitions could make sense, even in the scenario that oil and gas demand declines.  


· Clean energy stocks tumble.  Clean energy indexes like the WilderHill Clean Energy ETF (PBW) are down about 35 percent since the summer. Why are stocks down, and what are the likely implications?


· Canada announces a three-year pause in the carbon tax for heating oil to help with affordability.  Yet, other sources of heating in the country do not get a break.  Jackie and Peter discuss the outrage in areas of the country that do not depend on heating oil for heat, as well as other possible implications.


Other content referenced in this podcast:


· Thunder Said Energy: War and commodities: how do conflicts impact prices? October 12, 2023
· The Clean Investment Monitor: Tracking Decarbonization Technology in the United States, Rhodium Group, MIT, CEEPR, September 2023
· Prime Minister of Canada Office (PMO) announcement “Delivering support for Canadians on energy bills,” October 26, 2023


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This week our guest is Jason Schneider, Director, Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) and Reeve of Vulcan County in Southern Alberta.

The RMA is a progressive, independent association committed to meeting the diverse and changing needs of Alberta’s 69 counties and municipal districts. Since 1909, the RMA has helped rural municipalities advocate for strong, effective local government.  The RMA did not ask for a pause on new permits for renewables projects in Alberta; however, they do have concerns that they hope the inquiry will tackle, including the use of prime agricultural land for renewables projects and a lack of plans for reclamation and cleanup.

Jason is also an elected official in Vulcan County. Vulcan County is conveniently located close to Calgary and Lethbridge in southwest Alberta. Including the towns and rural areas, the total population is about 7,000 people. The County covers an area of about 6.5 times larger than Calgary.

Vulcan County currently has four renewable projects operating or under construction, approximately six approved projects, and about a dozen more in the pre-approval, early proposal stages.   

Here are some of the questions Jackie and Peter asked Jason:  What is the scale of the renewable projects in Vulcan County? Who benefits financially from the projects? What are some of RMA’s concerns with the current process for approving and permitting renewables projects?  Is the building of transmission lines also a concern? What are the requirements for reclamation of the projects? If the projects are on private land, why is reclamation a concern of the municipality? Does social media and misinformation contribute to opposition to renewable projects? If so, what is the best way to communicate accurate information to citizens?  What changes would you like to see from the Alberta Utilities Commission's (AUC) inquiry on the development of renewables projects?   

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