First Nations co-ownership of renewable energy projects is increasingly proposed as a tangible pathway towards economic reconciliation, enabling communities to assert sovereignty over their lands and land use decision-making.
This is despite limited empirical understanding of the value of First Nations co-ownership, how and where it exists, and what its on-the-ground influence may be in advancing First Nations self-determination and economic resilience.
To address this gap, this paper offers a first-of-its-kind foundational, evidence-based knowledge of the state of play on First Nations co-ownership of large renewable energy projects.
We present an original dataset, comprising 61 projects carefully curated to establish a much-needed global baseline on the spatial and temporal trends and patterns across technology, project size, development stage and equity share.
Overall, we find evidence of growth in the number of renewable energy projects with First Nations equity over the last three decades across four jurisdictions.
Most projects in Canada (mainly wind) and New Zealand (geothermal) are operational, while many in Australia (mostly solar) and the US (transmission) are in the planning stages.
First Nations equity shares range from 3.2% to full ownership, with minority ownership the most prevalent.
Authors: Vigya Sharma, Julia Loginova, How are Indigenous groups participating in large renewable energy project co-ownership? Mapping global progress, Energy Research & Social Science, Volume 132, 2026, 104557, ISSN 2214-6296, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2026.104557.