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Energy transitions in Indigenous, Northern and remote communities in Canada promise benefits that go beyond reliable, clean and affordable energy services. The Federal and Provincial governments have committed funding to get remote communities off diesel, acknowledging energy transitions' global and local benefits. Besides climate change mitigation, other benefits, including job creation, income generation, community ownership and local economic growth, are fundamental components of the value proposition of renewable energy projects. However, despite the promises, little evidence of the impacts of renewable energy on communities' local conditions exists. This article looks at the relationship between renewable energy projects and community well-being in Canada. We construct a panel of Indigenous communities and well-being levels using Census data and information about renewable energy projects for the period 1981–2016. The findings suggest that renewable energy is associated with higher levels of well-being. Concretely, having access to renewable energy increases overall well-being by 1 to 5 points on the 0–100 well-being scale, depending on the component of the well-being index considered in the analysis. • Renewable energy and community wellbeing is an essential relationship for successful energy transitions. • The size of the renewable energy projects is strongly associated with higher community wellbeing. • Communities that hold majority ownership of renewable energy projects exhibit higher wellbeing levels. • Solar and wind energy projects are associated with higher wellbeing levels, whereas hydropower is associated with lower ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change mitigation requires sustainable energy transitions, but their political dynamics are poorly understood. This article presents a general dynamic model of renewable energy policy with long time horizons, endogenous electoral competition, and techno-political path dependence. We calibrate the model with data on the economics of contemporary renewable energy technologies. In doing so, we discover transition dynamics not present in economy-energy models, which ignore politics, or in formal political economy models, which ignore long-term technological dynamics. We show that the largest effects of partisan ideology on policy occur when the competing parties disagree on the importance of energy policy. In these cases, the less ideological party appeases the more ideological one, while the more ideological party attempts to appease the electorate. The results demonstrate that political dynamics could have large effects on the development of renewable energy and carbon dioxide emissions over time, influencing the ability of countries to reach various climate mitigation trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many isolated and indigenous Arctic and Subarctic communities are mixed-subsistence-cash economies. In the 20th century, the integration of motorized transport expanded access to harvestable resources but created energy dependence intricately linking food with energy security. As remote communities became more vulnerable to fossil fuel price fluctuations, they also face new challenges related to climate change such as shorter winter seasons. The transitioning from fossil fuels to local renewable energy sources is widely considered both an adaptation and mitigation strategy. We empirically analyzed the food-energy nexus for nine Arctic and Subarctic communities using a Bayesian hierarchical model. We predict household-level gasoline consumption based on wild food harvest and vehicle type. We found that cars and trucks are the least energy efficient forms of transportation whereas snowmobiles are the most efficient. Also, communities with strong traditional wild food production and specialization are more likely to be energy efficient. The results suggest that indigenous culture is an important contributor to effective climate mitigation, energy, and food security. Our analysis supports community adaptation and planning for improved quantitative understanding of the food-energy nexus in rural Arctic communities. The study assists communities with energy transitions away from fossil fuels towards local renewable energy sources. • Bayesian hierarchical model performs best in predicting household gasoline consumption. • Households adding a car/truck or all-terrain vehicle (ATV) double consumption. • Snowmobiles are most efficient but can only be used in shortening winter season. • Communities with strong traditions and specialization are more energy efficient. • Indigenous culture contributes to climate change mitigation, energy, and food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]