Monica Gattinger, Director, Institute for Science, Society and Policy, University of Ottawa
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Transcript of Monica Gattinger, Director, Institute for Science, Society and Policy, University of Ottawa
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The Role of Public Confidence in Energy Policy and Regulation: Elephants, Horses and Sitting DucksProfessor Monica Gattinger, Chair, Positive EnergyDirector, Institute for Science, Society and Policy
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Presentation Overview Context• Brave New World of Energy
– Energy policy and regulation increasingly complex– Energy development increasingly contentious
• The Positive Energy projectPublic Confidence• Drivers• The diagnostique: why now?
– Elephants, Horses and Sitting Ducks• The prescription: how to strengthen public confidence
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Brave New World of EnergyEnergy Policy and Regulation Increasingly Complex
– Governments in search of ‘holy grail’ of energy policy/regulation• Identifying the appropriate balance points
between four imperatives: market, environment, security and social acceptance/support
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The Brave New World of Energy Politics of energy increasingly fierce and polarized
– From NIMBY to BANANA & principled opposition– Not just fossil fuels
Can we afford to go on this way? – Costly: money/time going into projects – Deteriorating relationships– Capital flight / lost economic & environmental
opportunities
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Positive EnergyUses convening power of the university to bring together key energy players to strengthen public confidence
– Policy-makers, regulators, industry, environmental NGOs, Indigenous groups, academia
Undertakes solution-oriented applied evidence-based research to inform dialogue and action
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What Drives Public Confidence?
Public Confidence
Governments: Policy and Regulation
Society: NGOs,
communities, neighbours
Industry: Performance
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Public Confidence: Why Now? Social /Value
Change
Policy Gaps
Energy decision-making
processes
Projectproponent practices
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The Horses: Social & Value ChangeFundamental changes in postwar period- Decline of trust in institutions and deference to
authority/expertise• consequence: whither evidence-based decision-making
and credibility of public authorities to take unbiased decisions?
- Desire for greater public involvement in decisions• tension between participatory & rep’ve democracy
- Shift from communitarian to individual values• Prioritizes individual/local over group/national interests
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The Horses: Social & Value Change- Rise of anti-corporate/big business/fossil fuel values
• Preference for small-scale locally owned renewable - Decline in risk tolerance
• Perceptions of risk can trump realities of risk; risk/benefit rather than cost/benefit
We aren’t in (1950s) Kansas anymore: the horses have left the barn
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The Elephants: Policy GapsMany elephants in many rooms- Climate change: absence of forums/action
• Playing out in energy decision-making processes - Indigenous concerns / Reconciliation
- Many concerns beyond energy playing out in energy decision-making
- Lack of mechanisms to address cumulative effects or to plan regionally • Playing out in regulatory process for individual projects
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Sitting Ducks: Energy Decision Processes
Unresolved Policy Issues
Played out in policy/reg’yprocesses
Reduce public
confidence
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The Sitting DucksEnergy policy & regulatory decision-making processes- Regulatory processes critiqued on all these lines;
regulators’ responses may exacerbate the problem - Where project decision-making brought to political
level, leaders’ responses may undermine confidence in regulatory processes and privilege short term over long term imperatives
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Who Cares? Who Should Care?• Democracies with large energy resource bases
and ambitious targets for energy transition• Solutions require involvement of ministries/policy
sectors beyond energy• Need to be willing to ask – and answer – the
tough questions• Getting energy governance right will unlock
economic and social opportunities, and help countries move to a cleaner energy future
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What to do?Importance of getting diagnosis/solutions rightAccept the horses
- Can’t turn back the clock on social and value change- Governments can’t act unilaterally but need to
balance listening/actingBefriend the elephants
– Address gaps: climate, reconciliation, cumulative/ regional effects
– Ask & answer tough questions: how do we move from the ‘what’ to the ‘how’ on climate?
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What to do?Get the ducks back on their feet
– Strengthen confidence in energy decision-making:• Substance: fairness, evidence-based decision-
making• Process: access, trust in evidence, capacity,
representation, political/regulatory interfaceOpportunity for Canada (and North America) to move from bleeding edge to leading edge of public confidence
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www.uottawa.ca/positive-energy