CARE Applied Learning Project: Europe’s Clean Transition Through a Canadian Lens

On Friday 18 September, fifteen Master students from the University of Toronto and the University of Guelph gathered in Toronto to explore what Canada and the EU can learn from each other's approaches to the clean transition.

Led by Dr. Marc Ringel, Chairholder of the European Chair for Sustainable Development and Climate Transitions at Sciences Po, during his CARE Visiting Fellowship at the Munk School, the workshop brought together students working in small teams to explore a range of topics related to Europe's clean transition. Each team built its work around a draft chapter from the forthcoming Handbook on Clean Transitions in Europe (Edward Elgar, 2027), edited by Dr. Ringel. Students had one week to move beyond summary and develop a structured comparison: identify the core European policy challenge, understand the EU's response and where it succeeds or struggles, then develop a Canadian perspective with possible solutions and lessons that could travel in both directions.

Presentations were grouped into four thematic clusters:

• Green competitiveness? clean industrial deal and climate neutrality
• Clean energy challenges: energy security and renewables
• Governments as change agents: critical minerals and the bioeconomy
• Change without overburdening society: just transition and stakeholders & the politics of the clean transition

The day opened with a keynote address from Joerg Wittenbrinck of the Ontario Ministry of Energy and Mines. Students then delivered their 10-15 minute presentations, and each cluster concluded with a panel and Q&A.

Each team submitted a findings summary, a slide deck with comparative EU-Canadian policy recommendations, and a group presentation. Their summaries appear below.