SDG Month feature
첥Ƶ will play an integral role in a national initiative supporting long-term energy and climate decision-making.
The (EMH) is designed to strengthen Canada’s analytical capacity around energy systems transitions.
Mark Winfield, a professor at York’s (EUC), will help guide Canada’s future in energy as one of five academics serving on the hub’s executive committee.
The investment of nearly $5 million was awarded to a consortium of 첥Ƶ, the University of Calgary, Carleton University, the University of Victoria and École Polytechnique to establish a national energy modelling network to support evidence-based decision-making around the sustainable decarbonization of Canada’s energy systems.
Funding is provided through the Natural Resources Canada’s Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program. Additional funding for EMH is provided through the Trottier and Ivey Foundations.
Working together over the next four years, academics and industry experts will improve access to energy models, data and analytical tools so governments and stakeholders can better understand the implications of different pathways to decarbonization and energy sustainability.
“The Energy Modelling Hub serves as an independent enabler and capacity builder in Canada,” says Winfield, who also co-chairs EUC’s Sustainable Energy Initiative. “Its work focuses on connecting researchers and decision-makers, supporting open-source tools, improving access to data and providing opportunities for training and knowledge sharing.”
Long-term planning, he says, will look at how to decarbonize energy systems while ensuring affordability and advancing sustainability.
EMH’s current work includes exploring the potential roles of connections between provincial electricity grids.
Contributing as York’s representative on the EMH executive committee, Winfield will help guide the strategic direction of the hub. Drawing on his extensive research on climate change, energy sustainability, and environment and energy law and policy, he will be part of a national effort to “advance the transition in the direction of sustainable energy systems.”
In 2023, Winfield co-edited Sustainable Energy Transitions in Canada (UBC Press) exploring the technical, economic, political and policy dimensions of decarbonization and energy transitions. Winfield’s work with EMH builds on his participation research networks around energy storage, smart grids, distributed energy resources and community energy planning, He is currently co-editing Carbon Federalism: Canadian Climate Governance in a Disrupted World for the University of Toronto Press.
The December 2025 funding announcement builds on previous $5 million federal support for EMH and strengthen Canada’s momentum towards net-zero and decarbonizing its energy systems.