Evan Wood is heading into his fourth year at ������Ƶ Allison, pursuing an honours degree in Commerce with a minor in French. He already has big plans for the future, which include a master’s in tax and a CPA.

“Thinking about that, I figured it would be a good idea to start a thesis on a new tax topic so that I would be well prepared for my master’s thesis,” says Wood.

He landed on researching four new tax topics that intersected with clean technology and manufacturing. Now, he’s trying to discover whether Canadian grants, rebates, and industry investments are making the right impact on the country’s clean energy resourcing.

Wood is being supervised by Assistant Professor of Accounting at the Ron Joyce Centre for Business Studies Dr. Qi Guo. 

“Evan is truly one of the top students in our department — exceptionally hardworking and intellectually curious,” says Guo. “His honours research on clean technology investment incentives and renewable energy adoption reflects both his academic strength and his deep commitment to sustainability. Beyond the classroom, he’s made meaningful contributions as a research assistant, a volunteer with the CRA tax clinic, and a peer mentor to fellow students. It’s been a real pleasure working with him.” 

Wood is reviewing public data and literature and comparing Canada’s investment and impact to that of the U.S. and the U.K. He has been able to analyze the financial statements of 14 publicly traded critical mineral extraction and clean energy companies to see if tax credits and grants are making a difference. 

While the research is still ongoing, Wood is starting to draw some conclusions and will continue this project through his honours thesis in his final year at ������Ƶ Allison. 

“The industry worldwide is experiencing some sort of market failure, but these failures have been addressed by, for example, the European Union and the United States themselves,” Wood says. “What I've found is that the United States uses a similar tax policy to Canada, where they rely on a tax credit system, but they're more aggressive. So, the research serves as a critique on how Canada goes about their tax policy.” 

Clean energy extraction isn’t as simple as it may seem, though Canada is rich in the resources and natural reserves of critical minerals. The infrastructure needed is expensive and current extraction methods rely on diesel machinery. Most clean energy companies continue to show large losses as initial investments are substantial, and the geographical locations lack access to electricity. 

What he knows for sure is that Canada does have the natural resources for domestic clean energy production. He will continue his work in connection with organizations such as the Climate Change Institute with the guidance of Dean of Social Science and Business Dr. Yves Bourgeois. 

The industry is changing so quickly that things could look very different at the conclusion of his master’s thesis in approximately 2029. Wood intends to continue his research into the intersection of clean energy and tax rebates with more conclusions to come.