For Mark Rudolph, the key to making progress on environmental protection is to
open channels of communication between unlikely allies, particularly between corporate Canada and environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs). To this end, he volunteers as a matchmaker.
“I spend a lot of time introducing people to each other,” Mark says. “Many people in the environmental community wouldn’t dream of meeting one-on-one with the CEO of a major corporation that they perceive to be a significant contributor to our environmental challenges. I look at them and say, ‘I’m taking you to lunch because I think you should meet.’”
Mark is uniquely suited to making these connections, having spent 33 years working on environmental issues in Canada in numerous capacities; he’s been the chief of staff to provincial and federal environment ministers, and is currently a public affairs consultant for major companies and ENGOS.
It was through Mark’s work forging connections between what he calls “counterintuitive groups of strange bedfellows” that, in the late 90’s, he began to work with the Pembina Institute. At that time, Suncor Energy, with Mark’s help, was seeking ways to build and invest in a sustainable energy future for Canada. They approached Pembina and together formed the Clean Air and Renewable Energy Coalition (CARE), of which Mark was the Executive Director for almost a decade, while also doing consulting through his own firm, justenvironment. .
CARE successfully kick-started the renewable-power industry’s move from the niche to the norm in Canada, by lobbying the federal government to create the first Wind Power Production Incentive (WPPI), in 2001. More recently, under the Harper government, CARE’s efforts resulted in a $1.5 billion allocation to Ecologo certifiable renewable power through the ecoENERGY for Renewable Power program.
“If it wasn’t for Pembina’s credibility, substance, and quality of its work, we would have had a difficult time getting the renewable energy industry off the ground.” Mark credits CARE’s successes to the ability of its disparate members — from corporate oil and gas companies to environmental non-profits — to work together toward a common vision.
“The reality is that everyone can find a common purpose if they take off the hats they wear. We checked our biases at the door, and we got stuff done,” Mark says. “If it wasn’t for Pembina’s credibility, substance, and quality of its work, we would have had a difficult time getting the renewable energy industry off the ground.”
As the “glue guy” of the environment sector, Mark has introduced Pembina’s staff and work to others in the energy industry. Most recently, he chaired Pembina’s first “unGala,” which he likes to call Pembina’s “coming out party in Toronto.” As Mark explains, ‘’I decided to give my attention to Pembina because, frankly, I think that Pembina is the best environmental energy think tank in Canada.”
The event was unusual for an environmental nonprofit fundraiser, not only because of its dress code — “business casual Western style encouraged” — but also because its top six sponsors were major energy companies and financial institutions. “I think all of those companies respect Pembina, despite the fact that Pembina sometimes takes positions that they disagree with. That list of sponsors points to the power, the credibility, and the strength of the Pembina Institute, ” says Mark.
This type of matchmaking is not only an effective way to encourage environmental policy change, according to Mark, it’s also exciting work. “For me, as they say in Sex and the City, the ‘zsa zsa zu’ comes from bringing together people, who most people don’t think should come together, to advance good public policy.”
