QUEST Canada’s Motivating Net-Zero Action in Rural, Remote, and Indigenous Communities (MNZA) project is a multi-year research initiative examining how low-density communities across Canada experience, understand, and advance climate and energy action.

While discussions about the energy transition often focus on urban centres, nearly one in five Canadians live in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities. These places face distinct realities shaped by geography, infrastructure, governance, culture, and relationships to land. They also experience climate change and the energy transition in deeply interconnected ways—often with heightened exposure to climate impacts alongside longstanding structural challenges such as aging infrastructure, high energy costs, capacity constraints, and jurisdictional complexity. At the same time, communities are advancing locally grounded solutions rooted in stewardship, collaboration, and lived experience.

To better reflect these realities, QUEST Canada undertook a three-year research project in partnership with a pan-Canadian advisory committee and 15 rural, remote, and Indigenous communities across the country. The project combined foundational research with applied, community-engaged methods to ensure findings were both evidence-based and grounded in local priorities.

An initial literature review established key themes shaping net-zero pathways in rural, remote, and Indigenous contexts, highlighting how these communities encounter unique needs, challenges, and opportunities in pursuing climate and energy goals. The review emphasized the importance of solutions-focused, place-based approaches that address socio-economic realities alongside emissions reduction.

Building on this foundation, the final research report draws directly from community perspectives gathered through interviews, focus groups, and in-community visioning workshops. Conducted in partnership with designated community contacts, this applied research centred local knowledge, lived experience, and collective dialogue. The resulting findings reflect how communities understand climate and energy action as interconnected systems—linking energy, housing, transportation, food systems, land stewardship, governance, and wellbeing—underscoring the importance of pursuing co-benefits rather than isolated interventions.

Together with the final report, the MNZA project includes a jurisdictional scan designed to support ongoing, community-level action by mapping policies, programs, and enabling conditions across regions. This combined approach provides both practical insights and structural context, helping decision-makers, practitioners, and communities better understand what enables durable, equitable pathways to net-zero in rural, remote, and Indigenous settings.

Overall, the Motivating Net-Zero Action in Rural, Remote, and Indigenous Communities research project demonstrates that effective climate action emerges when it is community-driven, grounded in place, and designed to advance environmental sustainability, social equity, and wellbeing, together. A just transition depends not on one-size-fits-all solutions, but on sustained partnerships, local leadership, and systems-based approaches that reflect the diverse realities of communities across Canada.