The fossil fuel industry has long been the main driver of climate change, but Big Oil’s CEOs and profiteers would like you to believe that it is a part of the solution. One of the people peddling this idea is the man behind Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) – Murray Edwards, the Fossil Fuel Fanatic. 

Murray Edwards is the founder of CNRL and is one of the wealthiest people in Canada. As an oil-i-garch and multi-billionaire, Edwards has made it his mission to keep the oil pumping despite production sites killing wildlife and harming the environment. Edwards has a track record of cutting corners, like skipping proper cleanup of extraction sites and passing the cost onto the public. He’s just as focused on these shortcuts as he is on promoting false solutions like carbon capture. CNRL is a member of the Pathways Alliance – a tar sands lobby group that is trying to rebrand this polluting industry as a clean one while pushing back against government climate action behind closed doors. 

But like any great villain, he’s a man of contradictions. Sure, he has turned CNRL into a behemoth corporation, but when it comes to cleaning up their mess, well, that’s someone else’s problem. 

He’s even managed to dodge the pesky consequences of the Mount Polley mine disaster – a toxic tailings pond spill by Imperial Metals, the company where he is the largest major shareholder, owning 45 per cent. And when it comes to CNRL’s safety violations? Let’s just say “safety first” isn’t quite their motto. With every spill, every fine for violating environmental rules, every increase in emissions, and every lobbying push for subsidies and looser environmental regulations, Edwards cements his place as a true master of fossil-fueled villainy. After all, what’s a little wildlife destruction when CNRL has a stock market value of over $100 billion to boast about?

Environmental Defence has been calling on the federal government to stand up to Big Oil and hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for its pollution. Will you join the call? 

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  • Chairman of Canadian Natural Resources Limited: 1989 – present
  • President of Edco Financial Holdings Ltd: 2003 – 2015
  • Penn West Petroleum (later Penn West Energy Trust): 1992 – 2005
  • Founding member at FirstEnergy Capital Corp: 1993 – 2016
  • Co-founder at Peters & Co. Capital: 1988 – 1993
  • Director and Chair of the Board at Ensign Energy: – present
  • Director and Chairman of Magellan Aerospace Corporation: – present
  • Owner of Resorts of the Canadian Rockies company: 2001 – present
  • Co-owner of the NHL team the Calgary Flames: 1994 – present
  • Advisory Board member for the Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan
  • Former Board member at the Business Council of Canada
  • Former Director at the CD Howe Institute (until 2015)
  • Former Board member at the Canada West Foundation

Villain Career Profile

Murray Edwards, the Fossil Fuel Fanatic, has perfected the art of blending ambition with environmental disregard. As the chairman and co-founder of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL), he stands at the helm of one of Canada’s largest oil producers, all while raking in profits like there’s no tomorrow—quite literally, as the future looks increasingly bleak for our planet.

Under his leadership, CNRL has been linked to staggering annual emissions of 26.34 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO₂e), equivalent to 5.2 million homes’ electricity use for a year! This impressive feat is overshadowed only by the company’s notorious track record of environmental infractions, including multiple oil spills and safety violations​. Just this summer CNRL was fined $278,000 for a problem at one of their toxic tailings ponds that was left unaddressed and killed wildlife. 

Edwards was also a key player in the Mount Polley tailings dam disaster of 2014, where Imperial Metals, of which he is a controlling shareholder, experienced a catastrophic breach to one of its tailings ponds that released billions of liters of toxic waste into nearby waterways. This incident not only devastated local ecosystems but also raised serious questions about corporate responsibility and environmental oversight. The province and taxpayers of B.C. paid $40 million in cleanup costs, which did not restore the ecosystem and could only make a small a dent in the cleanup efforts. 

Now, having climbed to the top of the oil business, Edwards has diversified his interests. He doesn’t only profit from fossil fuels, but has expanded his ownership into mining companies, speculative carbon capture technofixes, recreational resorts, a consulting firm, and even co-ownership of the Calgary Flames.

But Edward’s is not just an owner, he’s a giver. In 2013 he organized a fundraising dinner at Calgary’s Petroleum Club to help raise political donations to former BC Premier Christy Clark’s re-election campaign. That night, his comrades at oil, gas and pipeline companies helped raise more than $1 million dollars for a pro-fossil fuel politician. In 2017 he shared his yacht with the interim leader of the Conservative Party, Rona Ambrose, for her vacation around the Caribbean. He spent years giving encouragement for the federal government to approve and build the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline project. After an $11 million donation to the University of Saskatchewan in 2007, the business school was named after him.  Edwards seems committed to “giving back”—by funneling fossil fuel profits to shareholders and himself, climate concerns be damned.

The Climate Villains campaign highlights the leaders of the fossil fuel industry that play key roles in expanding and financing climate-wrecking fossil fuels, blocking climate action, and spreading disinformation. These villains are more concerned about their profits and wealth than the future of the planet, and that’s why we’re profiling the ‘resume’ of each climate villain.