The Greenpeace Canada Education Fund is concluding its first Investigative Research project into the influence of fossil fuel companies in Canada. Made possible by the generous support of the Trottier Family Foundation and carried out by Greenpeace Canada, this two-year project represents a critical step in our mission to empower Canadians with information on climate change to influence public policy and offer solutions to address the climate crisis. In this blog post, we introduce you to Keith Stewart, Greenpeace Canada’s Senior Climate Strategist, who shares insights from the project and what this work means to him. Greenpeace Canada Education Fund’s Director, Jackie Gallagher, interviews him.
JG: Hi, Keith! It’s so nice to introduce you to the Greenpeace Canada Education Fund community. Can you tell us about your background with Greenpeace and your work in the wider climate movement?
KS: I’ve been part of Greenpeace’s climate team for 14 years now, but have been a full-time climate researcher / advocate for 25 years. I blame it all on Canada’s former UN Ambassador Stephen Lewis, because way back in 1990 I went to hear him speak about this thing I’d never heard of that he called global warming. It blew my mind, and after working for a student group for a few years I went back to school to do a Ph.D. on environmental policy. While in school, I started volunteering with the Toronto Environmental Alliance and then came on as a staff member there after I graduated in 1999. I worked there for seven years, then for four years at WWF-Canada and finally got hired by Greenpeace the third time I applied for a job here. I still teach one class a year at the University of Toronto to keep my toe in academia because I like interacting with the students.
JG: Thanks for sharing your experiences, Keith, you’ve been working hard for people and the planet. The climate crisis presents so many challenges, and it can feel daunting for many of us. I know I can feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of it all sometimes. How do you stay hopeful and dedicate so much of your time and energy to this challenging work? Do you have any tips for the rest of us?
KS: It makes total sense to feel sad, frustrated, angry or any other emotion about what is happening in this crazy world.
But to me, hope isn’t an emotion. Hope is a discipline and we have to practice it every single day. It means getting up in the morning knowing that it’s going to take everything we have to steer the future away from the destruction of the Earth’s beauty and rising levels of violence and inequality.
Hope means another world might be possible, but it is not guaranteed. That’s why I work for Greenpeace, to try and make a difference with other people who care. If you’re not already a part of this movement, I invite you to join us.
Hope calls for action; action is impossible without hope.
One of the good/bad things about climate change is that the problem is SO big that there is something for everyone to do. The fact that so much needs to be done is kind of liberating, so do what you are good at.
If you are good at public speaking, go out and inspire people. Even if it’s just family and friends (especially if it’s family and friends).
If you are good at writing, find your audience.
If you are an artist, there is so much that can be done to bring climate change to culture.
If you’re good with your hands, retrofit old buildings or build solar farms.
I would add that you should do what you are good at, but do it with other people, because it is by working together, including through organizations like Greenpeace, that we will move the world onto a better path.
JG: Alright, do what you’re good at, work together with others and hope is a discipline that should be practiced every day. I’m feeling better already! Can you tell us about the Investigative Research project, and what has stood out to you about this work?
KS: This project allowed us to really dig into the new ways that the oil and gas industry is trying to shape our politics and policy. There was a time when they could rely on a few well-connected lobbyists working the backrooms in Ottawa and Edmonton to get them what they wanted because (they would argue) we needed what they were selling. But now that we have cheap wind and solar energy to power electric vehicles and heat pumps, they need us more than we need them.
The cleaner energy systems that Greenpeace has been promoting for decades are now an existential threat to oil and gas companies that don’t transition to renewable energy, so they are fighting back in new ways. Our lead researcher on the project, Nola Poirier, worked with our amazing team to file Freedom of Information requests to find out what is happening behind closed doors. We documented the vast web of oil industry lobbying and how they are working with and through other players like banks, law firms and academia. And we really dug into the issue of greenwashing which is becoming more important as oil companies try to rebrand themselves as part of the climate solution.
For me, the highlight of the project was when the most powerful oil lobby group in the country –- the Pathways Alliance — deleted its web and social media posts after new truth-in-advertising regulations came into force. We had researched and filed a formal complaint with the Competition Bureau over the Pathways Alliance’s multi-million dollar ad campaign claiming the tar sands are on the path to net zero carbon emissions. And while we are still awaiting a final ruling from the Competition Bureau, our Pathways complaint influenced the federal government’s new anti-greenwashing rules that led to oil companies retracting their green claims.
JG: Thanks for sharing your perspective. What’s left to do in this project before it wraps up at the end of the year? And what could the next phase of this project look like?
KS: We are following up on our greenwashing work by submitting a brief to the Competition Bureau’s consultation on how they will apply the new rules. We are also continuing to monitor our Pathways complaint and hope we’ll get a decision before the end of the year.
I think for the next phase of the project, we’ll dig into how elements of the oil lobby are working with what we call “astroturf” groups (fake grassroots organizations that are sponsored by polluters) and elements of the far-right to advance their agenda. It’s a concerning development that originated in the United States but is being imported here.
JG: On the path toward a greener and more peaceful future, obstructive activities like this warrant further investigation. Thanks for making the time to share your perspective on this important project with us, Keith. It’s been inspiring to hear about the positive impact this climate research project has achieved, thanks to you and the rest of the team. I’m already looking forward to the next update!
KS: Thank Jackie, it’s been fun.