Niilo Edwards

Winning local approval for investments in everything from solar farms to critical mineral mines can be tough—and for good reason. While we need these projects for the energy transition, for decades the wellbeing of frontline communities has been an afterthought.

In Canada, Niilo Edwards, CEO of the First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC), is changing the equation. FNMPC advises Indigenous groups—known in Canada as First Nations—on how to engage with project developers with an eye to providing communities with ownership stakes in the projects happening in their backyards. It’s a win for the energy transition because collaboration speeds up project approval. And it’s a win for the First Nations because project ownership provides a new source of revenue to fund economic development. 

The Canadian government agrees. In April, on the sidelines of FNMPC’s annual conference, the government launched a CAD$5 billion (about US$3.6 billion) loan guarantee program to facilitate more Indigenous ownership deals. For Edwards, it’s a welcome recognition of the role that First Nations can and should play helping lead—and benefit from—Canada’s approach to the energy transition. “Indigenous participation in energy transition projects is really critical to moving the agenda forward,” says Edwards.

Edwards is focused on delivering for his members, but his coalition is an innovative example that project developers around the world are increasingly considering.