ATLANTIC CANADA: Risks and opportunities in the global low-carbon transition

Atlantic Canada faces significant fiscal and economic risks due to its reliance on oil, gas, and coal, particularly in Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick. While the region shows momentum in clean technology—led by Nova Scotia—and possesses strong natural resource advantages in wind, hydro, and tidal energy, scaling these opportunities is hindered by a lack of capital, a shortage of skilled STEM labour, and a mismatch between the location of new growth and transition-vulnerable rural communities.

• Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick face major fiscal risks due to their dependence on the oil and gas sector for government revenues and exports. In Newfoundland and Labrador, oil and gas accounted for one-sixth of government revenues in 2018–19 and 11% of provincial goods exports in 2020. In New Brunswick, petroleum manufacturing represented 14% of provincial GDP and 46% of international exports in 2020.
• The region possesses significant natural resource advantages for the energy transition, including offshore wind potential in Newfoundland and Labrador, P.E.I., and Nova Scotia, as well as hydro in Newfoundland and Labrador and tidal potential in Nova Scotia.
• Nova Scotia is the primary hub for transition-opportunity companies in the region, hosting nearly two-thirds of the 56 such companies active in 2021. These firms are generally export-focused, with nearly 80% of foreign sales from surveyed clean technology companies going to the United States market in 2016.
• Scaling new economic opportunities is difficult because regional companies are typically smaller, younger, and less profitable than national firms, with limited access to capital. Only two companies in Atlantic Canada have raised over $50M in investments, and only one, Meta Materials, is publicly listed.
• There is a geographic and skill-based mismatch in the workforce: transition-opportunity companies are concentrated in provincial capitals, while transition-vulnerable workers are often in rural areas. Additionally, companies cite a lack of skilled labour in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) as a major barrier.
• Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest share of workers in transition-vulnerable sectors in the Atlantic region at 5.8%, primarily in oil and gas.
• Government policies in the region continue to support demand-decline industries through fossil fuel tax rebates and consumer support for heating oil and natural gas, even as carbon pricing encourages decarbonization.

APA

Canadian Climate Institute (n.d.). ATLANTIC CANADA: Risks and opportunities in the global low-carbon transition. https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Atlantic-profile.pdf

Chicago

Canadian Climate Institute. ATLANTIC CANADA: Risks and opportunities in the global low-carbon transition. n.d. https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Atlantic-profile.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Canadian Climate Institute |title=ATLANTIC CANADA: Risks and opportunities in the global low-carbon transition |url=https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Atlantic-profile.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{canadianclimateinstitutendatlantic, author = {{Canadian Climate Institute}}, title = {{ATLANTIC CANADA: Risks and opportunities in the global low-carbon transition}}, institution = {Canadian Climate Institute}, url = {https://climateinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Atlantic-profile.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }