In Alberta, the challenge of fighting climate change is made more difficult by the deeply polarized conversation around the province’s energy future. In response to this challenge came the Alberta Narratives Project, a community-based public engagement initiative to build skills for more productive conversations around climate and energy. The Pembina Institute, in collaboration with Alberta Ecotrust and other partner organizations hosted 55 workshops across the province reaching almost 500 Albertans who identified as farmers, oilsands workers, business leaders, rural Albertans, conservatives, youth, environmentalists, new Canadians and more.

Phase I of the project identified language and narratives that reflect the values and identities of different Albertans, and found constructive ways of talking about our energy and climate future by building bridges instead of creating divides. The results of this engagement were published in two reports: Communicating Climate Change and Energy in Alberta and Communicating Climate Change and Energy with Different Audiences in Alberta.

With support from and ongoing collaboration with Alberta Ecotrust, the learnings from one of the world’s largest citizen engagement social science projects on energy narratives will be tested, validated and amplified. Funding for Phase II will build on the success of the work by enabling more concrete solutions; enhancing collaboration between industry and environmental nonprofits; and maximizing the benefits of the work. It will enable the Pembina Institute to analyze, refine and disseminate further the learnings from Phase I and enhance Albertans’ ability to lead the transition to cleaner energy by supporting them to incorporate the findings into their communication.