Research and Analysis
Overview
We develop empirical and evidence-based policy research with partners in Canada and around the world. Our research publications are designed to inform government, industry, and community stakeholders, as well as advance academic debates on emerging issues of resource governance related to non-renewable and clean energy sectors. We routinely share our reports with news media and are invited to comment on related current affairs.
The ERGP has the capacity to work broadly across a host of themes in extractive and natural resource governance. Across natural and social sciences, the SPPP recognizes the importance of engaging with new trends in interdisciplinary, policy-informed research.
How It Works
We regularly commission experts to write policy reports of various lengths. These reports are released through the School of Public Policy’s Publication (SPPP) series. The authors work closely with the research coordinator of the ERGP to finish the paper in a timely fashion and then it is sent for peer-review. Following publication, the ERGP works with the SPP to publicize the papers to Canadian media sources and arrange public venues for discussion, such as virtual workshops and seminars.
Contact Us
We accept proposals for research projects on a rolling basis and encourage new ideas and collaborations. We are building partnerships for the development and implementation of short and long-term projects in a variety of forms. Our collaborations often begin as single publications and are expanded into workshops, seminars, webinars, and large scale, multi-year, multi-product research initiatives.
Write to ergp@ucalgary.ca.
About the SPPP
The ERGP resides within The School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary. We belong to the #1 policy school in Canada and a Top 5 Canadian research institution (Re$earch Infosource). Our expert and academic rosters are highly recognized with scholars from around the world.
Upcoming and Recent ERGP Publications
Examining challenges of Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement: A comparative study of Mining projects in Southern Mexico in The Routledge international Handbook on Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement
(Forthcoming)
This chapter examines the meaningful stakeholder engagement (MSE) processes of two rural municipalities in Mexico where mining companies faced opposition. The chapter argues that, for MSE to occur between firms and communities at sites of mining projects, understanding local divisions, such as ethnicity, farming vs. non-farming vocations, and the interactions between community-level agrarian governance and the municipal government, are crucial components of understanding how affected stakeholders negotiate with, or oppose, mining projects. The chapter examines the gaps in existing public policy between levels of government in the federal system of Mexico. These cases engage with the handbook’s question of how MSE can identify and minimize risks and negative impacts, both in the short and long term, to the benefit of affected communities.
Best Practices in Mine Closure: A Case Study of Cultural Ecosystems Services in the Kenyan Mining Sector
Globally, few jurisdictions have enacted and implemented mine closure laws and regulations, except for a few major producers such as Australia, Canada, Chile, Peru and the United States. Kenya in East Africa has adopted similar standards. Drawing from the Bamburi Haller Park, a former limestone quarry, this study demonstrates that with suitable environmental practices and policy interventions, mine closure can lead to positive projects that spur economic and social benefits. As a policy tool, this paper examines cultural ecosystem services as part of best practices in mine closure and mine restoration. Results show that over 566 hectares are now under various land uses with 56.51 per cent of the quarry having been ecologically rehabilitated. This study’s findings can be applied to improve the restoration of abandoned quarries and assist in developing public policy to change worldviews and embrace ecological treatment of quarries as an important sustainable environmental management practice.
Interactions Between Oil and Environmental Policy in Ecuador
Ecuador, rich in both oil and biodiversity, represents a case study of the convergence of two apparently divergent economic development agendas: oil production and biodiversity conservation. Both are central to national policy objectives. Ecuador’s fiscal solvency is determined by natural resource prices. Policy-making and legislation relating to oil, Ecuador’s number one export, have historically been state priorities for maximizing economic benefits. However, Ecuador also hosts important biodiversity, which has led the country to sign environment-related conventions towards conservation and fighting climate change. Ecuador’s environmental efforts in recent decades have become a cornerstone of its diplomatic presence internationally. This study examines the interaction of oil and environmental policy in Ecuador.
Energy Transition Under the New NAFTA: Challenges in the Critical Minerals Supply Chain
Policy changes in 2023 to the Mexican mining sector’s regulatory requirements are the most significant reforms to the sector since the early 1990s. The reforms include shorter mining concession permits, stricter environmental impact assessments, and new permitting procedures on water use. Considering these dynamics, this paper presents three policy considerations for Canadian mining sectors engagement in the USMCA.
Debates and Extractive Bargains at Different Scales" in Extractive Bargains: Natural Resources and the State-Society Nexus
This closing chapter is based on a roundtable at the workshop which served as the launchpad for this edited volume. The closing roundtable featured experts from academia, non-governmental organizations, the mining industry, and mining industry watchdogs. The interdisciplinarity of the roundtable features in this chapter and highlights different perspectives on the possibilities and improbabilities of extractive bargains.
To Coerce or Not to Coerce? Assessing Policy Strategies to Regulate Small-Scale and Artisanal Mining in the Andes
Facing the rapid proliferation of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in the 2000s, states with commodity-dependent economies pursued different strategies to regulate the activity. While some states have chosen to co-operate, others have chosen to coerce; that is, they have used heavy-handed policies against informal miners. This article assesses the effectiveness of these strategies in increasing compliance. We build our theory using a parsimonious sequential game that highlights the relationship between the state and the informal miners. We illustrate the equilibrium by comparing the outcomes of the regulatory strategies pursued in Bolivia and Peru during the commodity boom of the 2000s.
PUBLISHED
The Potential for North American Energy Markets - A Continental Carbon Exchange
Leonardo Beltran, Michal C. Moore and Dan McFadyen. 2023.
The Key Role of No-Carbon Oil Companies in Global Climate Action: Leveraging the G20 Forum to Accelerate the Energy Transition.
Leonardo Beltrán-Rodríguez and Juan Roberto Lozano-Maya. 2021.
Risks of Failure in Regulatory Governance.
Dan McFayden and George Eynon. 2021.
The Surface Owner’s Burden: Landowner Rights and Alberta’s Oil and Gas Well Liabilities.
Victoria Goodday and Braeden Larsen. 2021.
A Review of Barriers to Full-Scale Deployment of Emissions-Reduction Technologies.
G Kent Fellows, Victoria Goodday, and Jennifer Winter. 2021
No Going Back: The Impact of ILO Convention 169 on Latin America in Comparative Perspective.
José Aylwin and Pablo Policzer. 2020.
The Various Structures for Granting Petroleum Licenses around the World.
Darryl Egbert and Brian Livingston. 2019.