Jason Switzer, a longtime leader and innovator in Canada’s energy transition, joins Power Struggle host Stewart Muir for a look at Equitable Origin (EO), a non-profit that certifies natural gas produced to higher social and environmental standards.
About 15% of US and Canadian natural gas is certified under the EO100™ Standard system. Canadian gas production certified by EO includes natural gas from:
- ARC Resources, which will supply EO-certified gas to the Haisla Nation’s planned Cedar LNG project;
- PETRONAS Canada (a 25% partner in LNG Canada), which has 100% of its gas certified through EO’s EO10 Standard for Responsible Energy Development;
- And Pacific Canbriam Energy, which will supply EO-certified gas to Woodfibre LNG.
EO also drives innovation in ESG — the criteria of Environmental, Social, and Governance that are used to assess an organization’s impact on the environment, its relationships with employees and stakeholders, and its governance practices.
As CEO of Equitable Origin, Switzer tells Muir how natural-gas companies get certified by EO:
“Annually they have to be audited and demonstrate compliance against the 500 or so benchmarks that are in our system. And so if you get a stamp of approval . . . from EO, what it really is is a score against those 500 indicators provided by a third party that’s been accredited. . . .
“You get a good statement of accounts against these environmental and social performance benchmarks that says that you’re doing well against them and that allows you to put that gas on the market with those environmental and social performance attributes.”
Resource Works firmly supports natural-resource development — but that’s responsible development that meets the highest standards when it comes to dealing with environmental impact, and going to strenuous efforts to do so.
We have long noted that Canadians clearly support responsible and sustainable development. And we have long argued that government review and permitting processes for major projects must achieve these outcomes.
Seeing such projects as new mines being tied up in government red tape up for 12 and 14 years, we have long called on governments to speed up federal and provincial permitting. So now we look to Ottawa to make good on the promise from Canada’s new natural resources minister, Tim Hodgson.
Hodgson says: “Energy is Canada’s power.” Now, he adds, we should build Canada into a conventional and clean energy and natural resources superpower. No more five-year government reviews for resource projects — “decisions will come in two years. “
It is good, also, to see Industry Minister Melanie Jolie reporting that Prime Minister Mark Carney has given her 60 days to cut red tape in her department and speed up innovation programs.
“We are a war cabinet, and we need to have a wartime philosophy, culture in making sure that we can do things quickly and deliver results in a speedy manner,” Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said in an interview with The Logic.
Jolie said the energy sector will be a major focus.
(Though with the government’s standing in Parliament reduced by the latest recounts, the “war cabinet” faces challenges in dealing with Opposition parties. The Liberals now have 169 seats in the Commons, three short of a majority. The Conservatives have 144, the Bloc Quebecois 22, the NDP seven and the Green Party one.)
The federal plans must also include working with Indigenous communities to co-develop economic opportunities and ensure their participation throughout a project’s lifecycle.
Jason Switzer points out that Equitable Origin also empowers Indigenous communities to hold resource developers accountable.
He speaks of EO standards that include “Indigenous rights and demonstration of free, prior and informed consent.” And that “those right holders are fairly compensated and even are fully equity participants in the gas that’s being produced.”
We note that the First Nations Natural Gas Alliance has a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation with Equitable Origin.
Alliance CEO Karen Ogen: “Equitable Origin is a champion of Indigenous rights, and of the principle and practice of Free, Prior and Informed Consent. And among its natural-gas certifications is the supply of gas to the Haisla-led Cedar LNG.
“The Alliance looks forward to working with Equitable Origin as we both press for LNG development that enables Indigenous partnerships, supports Indigenous interests, and protects the environment.”
On Power Struggle, Stewart Muir introduced Jason Switzer as a past leader of Carbon Next, accelerating next-generation carbon capture and utilization technologies, and an environmentalist who played pivotal roles at Foresight, the Pembina Institute, Cenovus and Shell Canada.
“Jason’s deeply involved in Canada’s clean-tech ecosystem and he holds degrees from MIT in environmental engineering and public policy. He’s also a Harvard-trained mediator and recipient of the prestigious Clean 50 Award.”
Now catch Jason and Stewart on Power Struggle:
- Video on Power Struggle’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEsTxyOqi9A
- Audio and full transcript: https://ow.ly/xeHv50VY4So
- Equitable Origin: https://www.equitableorigin.org/
- Jason Switzer on LinkedIn: https://ow.ly/lH3350VY4Fj
- Stewart Muir on LinkedIn: https://ow.ly/Smiq50UWpSB
- Power Struggle on LinkedIn: https://ow.ly/KX4r50UWpUa
- Power Struggle on Instagram: https://ow.ly/3VIM50UWpUg
- Power Struggle on Facebook: https://ow.ly/4znx50UWpUs
- Power Struggle on X: https://ow.ly/tU3R50UWpVu
