Title
Global Energy Reporter
Company
The Globe and Mail
Bio
Shawn McCarthy is the global energy reporter for The Globe and Mail, working in the paper’s Ottawa bureau for the Report on Business. In that role, Mr. McCarthy covers the energy sector, including oil and gas, nuclear, renewable energy and demand side issues. He deals with major economic trends at a national, continental and international level, with a particular focus on federal policy and environmental regulations. He also covers environmental issues such as climate change and nuclear waste disposal. Among other stories, Mr. McCarthy has covered the Paris climate summit; the federal government’s changes to environmental approval process for major resource projects, and the rapidly changing dynamics in North American oil and gas production. He was nominated for a National Newspaper Award for his coverage of the energy sector in 2009. Prior to assuming the energy beat in 2006, Mr. McCarthy served as The Globe’s New York correspondent for three years, with responsibility for business, politics and human interest stories, including the aftermath of 9/11. While there, he covered several high-profile corporate fraud trials including Enron in Houston and Martha Stewart. He was also part of The Globe’s team covering the 2004 U.S. election campaign. Mr. McCarthy served as the parliamentary bureau chief for The Globe and Mail from 2000 to 2003, and prior to that, wrote on finance and economic policy, including the previous Liberal government deficit battle in the 1990s. He has worked as a business reporter for the Toronto Star and for The Canadian Press. He began his journalism career in Alberta, working briefly for the Calgary Sun and at Ted Byfield’s Alberta Report magazine. A native of Philadelphia, Mr. McCarthy attended the University of Alberta as a foreign student and attained a bachelor’s degree in English literature. He met his wife, Karen, at the UofA and never went home, though he remains an ardent Phillies and Eagles fan. He also has a master’s degree in journalism from Carleton University, and completed the Canadian Securities Course. He has four grown children.