Thursday November 23, 2023
- 12:00 - 1:15 pm ET
- Online
What Is a Dead-End Pathway? A Conversation with Dr. James Meadowcroft
Webinar Summary
When implementing strategies to address a changing climate, how do you know if you’re on the right path? And before you’ve spent valuable time and resources, how do you know if you’re on the wrong path?
On November 23rd, attendees joined the Transition Accelerator for a wide-ranging discussion designed to answer these questions. In this webinar, Dr. James Meadowcroft and Moe Kabbara explored the essential distinction between long-term transition pathways and short-sighted victories. Adopting a pathways perspective is at the heart of the Accelerator’s methodology, and our speakers outlined how decision-makers can avoid “dead ends” and instead take deliberate steps toward achieving transformative change.
Dead-end pathways are directions that may seem sensible in the short term, achieving positive results like specific reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, but they don’t lead to the profound, lasting changes that our shifting climate demands. In fact, dead-end pathways can drain valuable resources and delay the major shifts needed to ensure Canadian prosperity. During the webinar, attendees sent in their burning questions to our experts and helped shape a productive conversation.
Speakers
James Meadowcroft, PhD
Transition Pathway Principal
James Meadowcroft, PhD, is a professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University where he has held a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Governance for Sustainable Development. He has written widely on environmental politics and policy, democratic participation and deliberative democracy, national sustainable development strategies and socio-technical transitions. Recent work focuses on energy and the transition to a low-carbon society and includes publications on carbon capture and storage (CCS), smart grids, the development of Ontario’s electricity system, the politics of socio-technical transitions and negative carbon emissions.
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Moe Kabbara
President
Moe Kabbara is an experienced energy and industrial policy professional with nearly 15 years of work at the intersection of technology, policy, markets, and supply chains. His work focuses on driving systems-level change across electricity, fuels, buildings, and industry.
As President at the Transition Accelerator, Moe leads national and regional efforts to support the transformation of Canada’s energy and industrial systems. He oversees work on electricity system planning, building decarbonization, the future economy, low-carbon fuels, and regional implementation—working across sectors to align planning, investment, and execution.
Previously, Moe was a Managing Consultant at Dunsky Energy + Climate, advising governments and utilities on clean energy strategies. He also served as a Senior Investment Officer at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, where he focused on investment attraction in the battery and automotive sectors as part of Canada’s emerging industrial strategy. Earlier in his career, he co-founded and served as CEO of a thermal energy storage start-up in Atlantic Canada.
Moe also played a leading role in establishing Accelerate, Electrifying Canada, and the Building Decarbonization Alliance—national initiatives focused on aligning policy, industry, and infrastructure to enable economic and energy system transformation.
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