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•Comparative analysis of 16 congesting pricing systems is conducted.•Each system is assessed against effectiveness and political acceptability.•Area-based congestion pricing systems can reduce emissions at low cost.•Equity and user engagement is important for congesting pricing implementation.

Canada as an oil and gas producing nation will play a definitive role in the transition to a carbon-constrained world. Yet, Canadian climate policy continues to prop the ailing oil and gas industry with supply-side policies that enables the continued expansion of fossil fuel production. This study examines the role of financial actors as high-leverage intervention points that may be used to limit the production and expansion of Canada's fossil fuel industry. Using a combination of network modelling, sensitivity analysis, and a novel scoring tool, we find that equity ownership in Canada's largest fossil fuel firms is increasingly concentrated among a small subset of predominantly foreign and corporate equity owners. Moreover, the high debt load of fixed assets make Canadian fossil fuel firms particularly sensitive to shareholder intervention. The findings suggest that prominent shareholders are unlikely to use their voice to curtail carbon emissions in Canada's fossil fuel industry, unless mandated to do so. Thus, the study concludes with important policy insights, to drive effective decision making and change.

Heat pumps are a key technology for decarbonising residential buildings, yet their current market share in Canada remains very low at approximately 5 %. To promote heat pump adoption, governments in Canada have introduced supportive policies such as purchase subsidies, and it is often assumed that increasing consumer awareness of such policies increases heat pump adoption. Using a survey of Canadian homeowners who do not own heat pumps (n = 3138), we assess: (1) levels of willingness to adopt air source and ground source heat pumps across Canada, (2) the effect of information provision on willingness to adopt heat pumps, (3) levels of heat pump policy awareness across Canada, (4) whether perceived technical characteristics of heat pumps can be categorized as functional or symbolic, and as private or societal, and (5) the role of policy awareness and other drivers in explaining willingness to adopt heat pumps. We find that a third of Canadian homeowners express willingness to adopt heat pumps. These homeowners are found predominantly within the Atlantic region and show higher levels of adoption willingness for air source rather than ground source heat pumps. Awareness of existing heat pump supportive policy is low, with only 5 % of respondents able to name any policies from memory. Awareness tends to be higher in British Columbia, and for heat pump subsidies and carbon taxes. Policy awareness without cues (i.e., being able to freely recall policies) is a positive predictor of willingness to adopt air source heat pumps only. Policy awareness with cues (i.e., when respondents were provided with a list of policies that served as a memory prompt) is not associated with willingness to adopt either type of heat pump. Other significant predictors include perceptions of heat pumps' functionality and their environmental benefits, having a technology-oriented lifestyle, having higher support for policies, and the financial and inconvenience costs during installation. Based on findings, insights into targeted policy designs to accelerate residential building decarbonisation are provided.