Like many New Brunswickers, we understand that it’s important to balance the energy and economic needs of our province with solid environmental values, policies, and actions so we can all continue to enjoy its natural beauty. That’s why we’re working every day to increase efficiency, reduce emissions, and preserve the environment. Learn about our sustainability efforts on the page below.

Preserving Our Environment

Preserving the environment is part of everything we do. Our Environmental Field Guide helps our teams day to day, while continued research and training allows us to make bigger environmental changes.

To ensure we’re making changes that benefit all New Brunswickers, our rightsholders and environmental stakeholders verify that we’re exceeding the set standards. That helps us achieve our environmental goals safely and responsibly. Discover some of the steps we’re taking to maintain NB’s waterways and habitats below.

Protecting Migratory Birds

To help with conservation efforts for migratory birds like ospreys, their eggs and their nests, we’ve developed an Avian Protection Plan (APP). This plan helps us protect birds and their habitat, as well as improve the safety, reliability and efficiency of our system.

To birds, especially ospreys, our transmission system can be a likely spot for a nest. On most occasions, this isn’t an issue as the nests are perfectly safe for our grid and for the birds. When nests do pose an immediate threat to reliability, biologists at the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development help us take every step to avoid disturbing or destroying a nest while we work to make sure the power stays on.

Today, over 300 active nests are found on the electrical system or on platforms installed by NB Power. NB Power continues to work closely with the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development when situations arise where an active nest must be trimmed or relocated to a platform due to safety or reliability concerns.

Want to learn more about this protected species? Click here to view our ‘Osprey and NB Power’ fact sheet.

Salmon Hatchery

Every year, the biologists at the Mactaquac Biodiversity Facility, in association with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), spend months spawning and rearing eggs to produce Atlantic salmon for release into the wild. Our team at the Mactaquac Generating Station helps them in their work by supplying the consistent and reliable water source that’s essential for healthy salmon. The fish they raise are released throughout the Saint John (Wolastoq) river system and help support recovery of the salmon population.

Using this and a special fish lift operated by DFO, they help maintain salmon migration patterns and preserve our rivers’ delicate ecosystems.

Monarch Butterflies

With the help and guidance of the Saint John Naturalists’ Club, Point Lepreau has become one of only two Monarch tagging stations in New Brunswick. In 2017, it was designated an “Official Monarch Watch Stop” as it’s a critical stop for endangered monarch butterflies.

The monarchs love our site because of all the milkweed, which our staff planted to help the butterflies successfully get from their caterpillar to their chrysalis stage. The club makes their way to the observatory every fall to see the butterflies gather to begin their long migration to Mexico.

Reducing Carbon Emissions

New Brunswickers across the province are working every day to reduce their carbon emissions, and we are too. Together, we’ve been helping lead emissions reductions in Canada and are now 80% carbon-free.

Our safe and balanced approach helps us continue to protect the environment, increase reliability, and preserve New Brunswick’s natural beauty. A key way we’re doing this is by increasing efficiency and refurbishing our existing infrastructure to extend its life. It’s a cost-effective way to maintain reliability and deliver non-emitting energy while investing in other carbon-free sources.

Committed to Efficiency

We all know that saving energy is good for the environment. What you might not know is when we’re all committed to being more efficient, it allows us to use cleaner energy sources to power the province, which is better for all New Brunswickers and helps reduce the effects of climate change.

We deliver a variety of Energy Efficiency* programs and incentives to help individuals, business, and industrial users be more efficient. Since the launch of these programs, New Brunswickers have saved $284 million in lifetime energy costs, invested $190 million in our province’s economy, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, which is equivalent to taking 134,936 cars off the road for a year.

We’re also investing in infrastructure like smart meters to help New Brunswickers monitor their energy use, and charging stations to make sure more New Brunswickers can drive electric. New Brunswick has the most comprehensive charging network in Canada, with over 200 charging stations and an average of only 65km between stations.