In August 2024, Net Zero Atlantic released its What We Heard Report on offshore wind in Nova Scotia as a part of the Capacity Building for the Sustainable and Inclusive Development of Nova Scotia's Offshore Wind Resource project. This report provides a collection of insights drawn from notes taken by our staff and project partners at information sessions in Mi'kmaw and rural communities as part of a project we began in 2023. The report will be used to inform the second round of engagements in the fall of 2024.
In addition, Cape Breton Partnership, one of the organizations integral to helping us to reach community members in Cape Breton, released a report reflecting the region’s specific insights. You can view the Cape Breton Partnership's report here.
About the reports
The What We Heard Reports are two collections of insights on communities' responses to offshore wind in Nova Scotia. One is prepared by Net Zero Atlantic with contributions from project partners and is a distillation of comments from a total of 32 community engagement events in rural Nova Scotia and Mi’kmaw communities. The second is written by the Cape Breton Partnership with specifics from numerous communities on the island.
Our report is one deliverable from a project we began in 2023, called Capacity Building for the Sustainable and Inclusive Development of Nova Scotia's Offshore Wind Resource, and funded in part by Natural Resources Canada’s Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways program.
When preparing our report, we wrote it to be used. The unique mix of voices brought into the reports uncovered the diverse hopes and concerns previously unfamiliar to us and confirmed some assumptions we had made with limited data. Our hope is for community members who took part in the engagements to see their valuable contribution included, enjoy reading the insights gained from other residents of Nova Scotia, and feel confident when talking about offshore wind with others. We also aim for professionals working to advance the energy transition to find the reports useful in their work.
We learned from our conversations with community members and look forward to advancing to the next level of engagements when we return to some communities and venture into new ones. Net Zero Atlantic and project partners will be on the road in the fall, rolling out Phase II of the project, which will focus on deeper exchanges in our progress to greater capacity for public participation.
We look forward to seeing the same and more community members in the fall of 2024. Subscribe to our mailing list for announcements of dates.