May 28, 2026
Guest post by Kyle Samson
Amid great uncertainty, Canadian policymakers are navigating complex trade-offs across affordability, competitiveness and environmental outcomes. They need sound, evidence-based policy advice to respond effectively. That’s why the Smart Prosperity Institute (SPI) brings researchers and policymakers together for the Economics and Environmental Policy Research Network (EEPRN) Symposium.
This annual event, supported by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), shares new policy-focused research funded through a competitive call for proposals. The 2024 call for proposals targeted academic research on accelerating the transition to an equitable, resource-efficient, low-carbon economy.
This year’s symposium showcased the 2024-2025 successful projects under the theme New research for uncertain times: Circular economy, corporate sustainability and just transitions. The event opened with remarks from Dr. Geoff McCarney, SPI’s Executive Director and Director of the University of Ottawa’s Institute of the Environment, and Derek Hermanutz, Director General, Economic Analysis Directorate at ECCC. McCarney set the tone by highlighting the power of research to inform decision-making and its particular importance in uncertain times.
Throughout the day, presenters shared findings on issues ranging from reducing waste while improving social, environmental and economic outcomes to how businesses are responding to environmental policy signals and how energy policy can better align with social goals.
Afolasade Nubi from the University of Ottawa presented research co-authored with Dr. Daina Mazutis on building a circular, low-carbon construction industry. They found that current Canadian environmental policies for the sector are focused on building operations, while the construction and end-of-life stages are largely overlooked. These stages (land use, design and material manufacturing) have a significant impact on the sector’s sustainability. Policy fragmentation across the building lifecycle limits progress toward a circular and low-carbon sector. For sustainable construction and deconstruction to scale in Canada, policy must align circular and low-carbon objectives with industry realities.
Katharine Mullock, also from the University of Ottawa, presented an analysis based on a national inventory of circular economy (CE) policies, a first for Canada. The inventory presents the country’s municipal, provincial, territorial and federal CE policies. It supports the identification of policy gaps, opportunities for policy harmonization, and future policy development and research. Mullock’s work found that while circular policy activity is growing in Canada, it lacks a coherent, coordinated approach across sectors. The inventory could help governments better align CE policies and accelerate Canada’s transition to a more resource-efficient economy.
The headline session featured a keynote address by Stephanie Cairns, Senior Director of Strategy and Foresight at the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions and member of the EEPRN Advisory Committee, followed by a conversation with Derek Hermanutz.
In her address, Cairns explored how academic research can inform smart climate policy, focusing on mitigation and adaptation. She argued that while issues such as geopolitical instability and an affordability crisis appear to have pushed climate action down the policy agenda, climate policy is moving from “the side stage of environmental management to the main stage of economic strategy.” Her conclusion? That this is a moment for researchers to “broaden the lens of climate research,” and embrace their duty to help “modernize Canada’s policy framework to match [the] opportunity and meet accelerating risk.”
Cairns’ discussion with Hermanutz examined how environmental policy tools and targets in Canada have evolved. Increasingly, policy objectives must account for affordability and security. A central theme was balancing policy durability with efficacy. The session closed with reflections on how polarization and misinformation are reshaping the policy landscape, and the role of clear communication, public agency and framing in maintaining public support for climate policy in uncertain times.
Dr. Amr ElAlfy and Tia Driver of the University of Waterloo presented research on how Canadian businesses understand and communicate climate risk in disclosures. They shared findings from two related projects. The first examined how climate risk materiality is conceptualized in the accounting and sustainability literature. Findings from this first project highlight convergence on the strategic value of climate-related disclosures and the role of stakeholders in influencing them. A second paper assessed how well firms’ disclosure practices align with their stated materiality perspectives. A key finding is that firms claiming double materiality do not actually disclose more climate‑related information than those using single materiality. This indicates a readiness gap between materiality perspectives and disclosure practices.
Dr. Felix Fosu from Queen’s University presented research co-authored with Wenshuang Yu from the University of Calgary on how air quality standards shape business behaviour. They examined how firms responded to a Canadian air quality policy and found that the regulation prompted manufacturers to import significantly more materials from abroad. This suggests that emissions were relocated rather than reduced, as firms favoured shifting sourcing over investing in cleaner technologies to meet regulations. These findings highlighted that unilateral air-quality standards may reduce domestic emissions while increasing global carbon leakage, reinforcing the need for coordinated international climate policy.
Anil Gogebakan from the University of Calgary explored how policy and market frictions shape business behaviour and productivity in Canada. His research showed how differences in provincial regulatory and energy policy contribute to energy misallocation and productivity loss, particularly given energy’s limited mobility and exposure to volatility. Gogebakan’s analysis suggests that trade frictions and policy misalignment may reduce Canada’s productivity by as much as 8%, reinforcing the case for greater interprovincial policy coordination.
Piper French from Simon Fraser University shared insights on Indigenous rights and the expansion of critical minerals projects in Canada. Her research explored how current policies can support and constrain Indigenous environmental justice in the energy transition. She argued that Indigenous perspectives are too often sidelined in critical mineral decision-making, pointing to the need for more transformative approaches to align mineral development with Indigenous sovereignty, justice and long-term sustainability.
To close the day, Sarah Ozog of Simon Fraser University showed how climate policy can align with government commitments to Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. Her research examined opportunities to better integrate decarbonization policy with UNDRIP obligations, using the Haida Gwaii energy transition as a case study. Despite challenges—including economic viability, infrastructure constraints and multilevel governance—her work highlights how coordinated policy and targeted funding can support Indigenous-led energy initiatives that balance energy security, sustainability and self-determination.
The 2026 EEPRN Symposium presentations showcased a variety of environmental policy research that could help policymakers make better decisions in these uncertain times. From circular economy policy and firm-level climate disclosure to productivity, energy policy and Indigenous-led approaches to the energy transition, the EEPRN supports researchers at a time when their work is more central than ever to Canada’s long-term prosperity.
For more key takeaways from the 2026 EEPRN Symposium, please visit the event page.
Kyle Samson, an SPI volunteer, is a recent B.Sc. (Honours) Biotechnology graduate from Queen’s University. His interests include how science, data and technology can support effective public programs and policy. Kyle will soon begin a Master of Public Administration at Queen’s University’s School of Policy Studies this fall.
The views expressed in guest posts are those of the authors, and not necessarily the views of the Smart Prosperity Institute.
This project was undertaken with the financial support of Environment and Climate Change Canada.
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