Mark Winfield

Professor MES Program Coordinator, MES/JD Program Coordinator, Co-Chair, Sustainable Energy Initiative (SEI) Credentials PhD Political Science, University of TorontoMA Political Science, University of TorontoBA (Honours) Science & Technology Studies, University of Toronto Research Keywords Sustainable Energy; Climate Change; Environmental Policy; Environmental Law. Graduate Supervision I supervise students in the graduate programs in MES, MES/JD and Environmental Studies Ph.D.

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Addressing Global Challenges to a Canadian Low-Carbon Energy Transition

Project Investigator: Mark Winfield. Funding: SSHRC Insight Grant. Term: 2021-2023. The proposed project will build on and expand the research, Canadian and international partnerships and networks, and knowledge mobilization infrastructure in the area of sustainable energy transitions and climate change policy. The major outputs of the project will include two books: 1) an edited volume

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What would happen if Ontario phased out gas plants?

Under pressure from municipalities and groups concerned about the climate crisis, the operator of Ontario’s electricity system is looking at what phasing out the province’s gas plants could look like. Ontario intends to rely more on natural gas-fired plants for power over the next decade, a change that is set to erase climate progress made

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Cleaning up Ontario's hydro mess

One of the central promises in the 2018 platform of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party was to “clean up the hydro mess.” And a mess there certainly is with the costs of subsidies out of general provincial revenues to artificially lower hydro rates now approaching the level of the province’s total pre-COVID-19 deficit. There is

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Canada's newest nuclear industry dream is a potential nightmare

SMRs are hardly the clean technology needed for the next generation and they’re unlikely to turn a profit. This year, the federal government has made apparent its enthusiasm for the nuclear industry’s latest dream – small modular reactors (SMRs). Following up on an SMR “Action Plan” released last July, it recently provided a $20-million investment to an Oakville, ON-based

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Mobilizing sustainable energy research in the age of populism and COVID-19

Principal Investigator: Mark Winfield Funding: SSHRC Connections Grant. Term: 2020-2022. The project provides opportunities and platforms for researchers and practitioners to make connections between findings arising through different research projects and aids in setting future research agendas, including the impact of COVID-19 on low-carbon energy transitions. The subjects addressed through these projects have included energy

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