A Group of Canada’s Wealthiest Families Pledge $405 Million for Climate Change Efforts: Corporate Knights
Against a backdrop of anxiety about the relevance of the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, plus the unveiling of president-elect Donald Trump’s climate-hostile cabinet, a group of Canadian family foundations has pledged $405 million to combat global warming.
The initiative, a partnership between veterans of Canada’s climate fight and relative newcomers, raises the ante, with deep-pocketed foundations and wealthy individuals stepping into the limelight to demonstrate their willingness to spend large sums at a time when many governments seem to be retreating from climate policies. Corporate Knights. Read article
These 50 Canadian corporations are betting big on green
June 26, 2024 – Rick Spence – Corporate Knights
2024 could be the year we end oil and gas expansion in B.C.
Major pipelines over budget, cancelled or facing fierce opposition
Jan 4, 2024 | KAI NAGATA – Dogwood
Just three days before Christmas, British Columbians received a surprise gift: a pipeline rejection. The BC Utilities Commission denied the application by FortisBC to build a $327 million gas pipeline in the fast-growing south Okanagan.
The pipeline would have pumped methane gas to thousands of new homes along the east shore of Okanagan Lake. But the regulator rejected FortisBC’s prediction of ever-growing demand for fossil fuels. Instead, the BCUC said the shift to renewable energy makes a new pipeline unnecessary.
John Vaillant Testifies to Parliament on Oil Industry as a Fire Industry
Dynamic testimony about the climate fire threat facing Canada from John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather, to Standing committee on Natural Resources in Ottawa.
“The oil industry is a fire industry. It is a CO2 industry. It is a climate changing industry. Big Oil knew the threat of fossil fuel burning and suppressed the evidence. The result is staggering levels of climate fire. Temperatures in the Fort Mac fire hit 500 degrees Celsius (hotter than Venus).” 5m:05s Watch video
At the same hearing….Suncor CEO Richard Kruger is grilled on ‘catastrophic’ wildfire season
Suncor CEO Richard Kruger was summoned to Parliament Hill last week to explain comments he made in August about doubling down on oil production instead of transitioning to clean energy. Should the oil industry be held responsible for Canada’s devastating 2023 wildfire season that forced 200,000 people out of their homes? MP Charlie Angus posed that question to the CEO of Suncor, the country’s second-biggest oil company. Watch here as he holds everyone else responsible for the destabilized climate and the wildfires. (1:16) Watch video
Why oil and gas heating bans for new homes are a growing trend-CBC
Vancouver and Quebec recently banned certain kinds of fossil fuel-based heating in new home construction. Similar — and, in some cases more extensive — bans are happening around the world, from Norway to New York City. The goal? To cut CO2 emissions from buildings by replacing fossil fuel burning with electric heating. But are such bans necessary? And what impact will they have on people who live in those cities? Here’s a closer look. From CBC. Read article
Canada’s “hellish” wildfire season defies the calendar
Sept 29, 2023 – Andrew Freedman – Axios
Canada’s wildfire season, already the worst on record, went “completely off the rails” during the past week, scientists tell Axios.
The big picture: Enough land area burned in the past week to make the seven-day-period comparable to nearly an entire typical fire season across Canada, according to Merritt Turetsky of the University of Colorado.
- While five provinces and territories, stretching from Nova Scotia to the Northwest Territories, saw record amounts of land burned this season, western Canada has been hit the hardest, she said in an interview.
- “Things have just continued to play out in kind of a hellish way in western Canada,” she said.
- During the past few days, smoke from wildfires in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories has tinted the skies over Greenland and northern Europe.
These fires are burning at a time of year when Canada’s fire activity tends to be on a sharp decline.
Alberta Slaps 7-Month Moratorium on Solar and Wind, Puts Booming Industry at Risk
Aug 3, 2023 – the Energy Mix
We have no words… Alberta is putting a booming renewable energy industry at risk and setting a double standard in the way it treats renewable and fossil fuel development, clean energy groups said today, after the province slapped a seven-month moratorium on new solar and wind projects over a megawatt in size. From Energy Mix.
Read story.
Meet the Villains Behind Canada’s Climate Crisis
June 2023 – Environmental Defence
Oil and gas companies want everyday people to believe that we’re driving the climate crisis. In fact, here are the influential players behind Canada’s oil and gas industry who are truly to blame. They 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.
Go to the climate villains webpage. Click on a villains image to learn how they prevent efforts to build a healthy, equitable world, beyond fossil fuels. Canada’s Climate Villains
Parliament fiddles while Canada burns
Jun 07, 2023 – Aaron Wherry · CBC News
…In the vicinity of Parliament Hill, wildfires have not been an abstract concern this week. By the time the prime minister spoke, the nation’s capital itself was already shrouded in smoke from wildfires in Quebec. On Tuesday, some residents of Ottawa wore masks outside — recycling the COVID-19 accessory to protect against a different kind of emergency. Schoolchildren were kept indoors during recess.
But debate inside House of Commons was focused on other matters. Read Aaron’s Story
Listen to CBC’s “What On Earth” – Will smoky skies spur sharper climate action in Ottawa?
From Carbon Brief – Media reaction: Canada’s wildfires in 2023 and the role of climate change
From Reuters June 27, 2023 – Canadian wildfire emissions hit record high as smoke reaches Europe
the Guardian June 27, 2023 – Canada’s wildfire carbon emissions hit record high in first six months of 2023
Investigation needed into foreign election meddling
Foreign-owned corporations are exempt from Elections Act if they list their headquarters in Canada.
March 6, 2023 – Toronto Star – By Gordon Laxer Contributor
Powerful, non-government foreign entities, including foreign-influenced corporations, regularly intervene in our elections. Their meddling is more effective than China’s because they hire Canadian managers, gaily wave the Maple Leaf and seem Canadian. They know how to sway voters better than China’s operatives.
Read the Toronto Star opinion piece
We must stop rewarding destroyers and punishing defenders
Mar 2, 2023 – By David Suzuki with contributions from Senior Editor and Writer Ian Hanington –
As of early February, police have “made more than 90 arrests and dozens of detentions” to facilitate construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in northern B.C., “running up a taxpayer tab of more than $25 million,” according to the Narwhal. François Poirier, President and CEO of TC Energy, which owns the project, was rewarded with “$9.81-million in his first full year as CEO, including a $1.1-million bonus and share and stock option awards valued at $6-million,” the Globe and Mail reported.
Aggressive Net-Zero Plan Puts PEI at ‘Centre of Energy Transition Universe’
February 14, 2023 – the Energy Mix – Mitchell Beer
A clever series of presentation slides at a conference in Ottawa last week placed small communities at the centre of the energy transition and spotlighted Prince Edward Island as Canada’s next source of breakaway climate leadership.
With a population of 161,455 and just 1.6 million tonnes of emissions in 2020—less than a quarter of a percent of the national total—PEI might not be the first place most Canadians would look for decisive action to cut carbon. But a 2040 deadline to achieve a 100% emissions reduction may make it the first province or territory to hit net-zero, and some of the program innovations the island is trying out are already catching the attention of other governments.
A RENEWABLES POWERHOUSE
February 2, 2023 – Clean Energy Canada
In Alberta and Ontario, wind can now produce electricity at lower costs than natural-gas-fired power, with even more reductions on the horizon, according to a new Clean Energy Canada report released last week.
Power plants typically operate for decades, so decisions made now will have repercussions for many years into the future. But until now, many forecasts used by decision makers were based on data that’s out of date or from other countries. This study offers Canadian, province-specific information.
Canada pledged to protect 30% of its nature by 2030. Is Doug Ford standing in the way?
January 26, 2023 – National Observer
If provincial and municipal governments allow developers to guide where and how they protect the environment, it will be impossible for Canada to meet its goal to protect 30 per cent of the country’s lands and waters by 2030, conservationists warn.
The grim reminder follows the Ontario government’s widely criticized decision last month to open up 7,400 acres of previously protected Greenbelt land for housing developments, despite broad opposition to the plan.
Industry Carbon-Capture Steamroller Could Crush BC First Nations
Corporations, the province and allies like the Fraser Institute are pushing ahead with a flawed alternative to greener energy.
Big Oil and supportive governments have stalled action on climate change for so long that, as the clock ticks toward catastrophe, one of the last hopes is the expensive and unproven technology of carbon capture and storage, or CCS.
Saskatchewan’s Boundary Dam 3 carbon capture and storage facility pictured here, is one of three major CCS projects in Canada, and has consistently failed to meet its targets.
…But oil and gas companies are happy with the claimed solution because it means they can continue profiting from fossil fuels while they bury their emissions with financing provided largely by public subsidies.
A contingency plan for the death of American democracy
Sun., July 24, 2022 – By Gordon Laxer, Contributor – Toronto Star
If democracy falters in the U.S., where would that leave Canada? Can democracy thrive here if the U.S. becomes an autocracy, or falls apart into warring blue and red states?
Riveting testimony in the Jan. 6 committee hearings has shredded complacent assumptions that the U.S. will always protect Canada from externally imposed authoritarianism. Russia and China project dictatorial power as much as ever, but have much less ability to influence events in Canada than an autocratic U.S. would, since our economies and cultures are so embedded. Read CAM member Gordon Laxer’s opinion piece here
Hollywood celebrities call on RBC to stop financing B.C.’s Coastal GasLink project
Dozens of Hollywood celebrities are joining Indigenous leaders calling for big banks to stop funding the Coastal GasLink pipeline in B.C.
Actors Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio are among the celebrities who have signed on to the No More Dirty Banks campaign.
They are throwing their support behind Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and other leaders who are calling on the Royal Bank of Canada to withdraw its support from the northern B.C. pipeline.
According to the organization, RBC has invested more than $160 billion since 2015 to finance tar sands, fossil fuel extraction and transport.
Trans-Mountain Pipeline—An albatross around the necks of taxpayers
February 20, 2022 – Mitchell Beer- the Energy Mix
“The Trans Mountain project is out of control, and Canadian taxpayers are facing an even greater burden than before,” says independent economist Robyn Allan, a former president and CEO of the Insurance Corporation of B.C.. “Not only is the $21.4 billion estimate a 70% increase in the project’s budget—giving a clear indication of just how badly it’s being managed—it’s not likely to be the last increase we will see.” Read the article from the Energy Mix
Jan 20, 2022 – Gordon Laxer – Edmonton Journal
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) may rue the day they made foreign funding a public issue. Three years ago, CAPP head Tim McMillan launched a crusade against “foreign-funded, anti-pipeline” activists. “We have been the victims of a very well-orchestrated, well-planned foreign-funded attack,” he charged. – more
Big Foreign Oil should be banned from election spending in Canada
Dec 8, 2021 – Gordon Laxer, contributor – Toronto Star
After most Canadians vote for parties who promise climate action, they may wonder why Canada is by far the worst G-7 carbon-polluting country. While the U.S. and Japan are roughly at their 1990 emission levels, Canada’s are up 21 per cent. The EU is 25 per cent lower and Britain’s is down a remarkable 40 per cent.
… The report “Posing as Canadian. How Big Foreign Oil Captures Canadian energy and climate policy” was released Wednesday (Dec 7, 2021) and explains why.
Canada Infrastructure Bank to fund 4,000 electric school buses in Quebec
November 24, 2021 – Mehanaz Yakub – Electric Autonomy
The investment is a long-term loan that is meant to help bus operators cover the vehicles’ higher upfront costs and charging infrastructure expense and help accelerate the shift to electric school buses in the province.
“It’s a loan that’s based on the expected savings that the buses are going to generate over their life,” explains Charles Todd, managing director of investments at CIB, in an interview with Electric Autonomy Canada.
Trudeau’s accidental Heritage Moment
Nov 22 – newsletter
Earlier this week, Trudeau committed an oily Freudian slip at a major talk in the United States when he described Canada as an “oil and gas producing…company.” Oops!
Inadvertently, he told us a deeper truth than we are accustomed to hearing: Canada was in fact an extractive company before it was a country.
Our new video uses Trudeau’s slip as an opportunity to take a closer look at Canada’s origin story. WATCH
The Big Soak
Nov 22, 2021 – Joshua Berson – The Tyee
In September of 2020, as the choking haze of wildfires shrouded British Columbia’s largest city, I documented the eerie scenes for The Tyee in a photo essay called “The Big Smoke.” In June of this year, as the heat dome suffocated the region, claiming hundreds of lives, I ventured out again to record “The Big Sweat.” On Thursday, I went to Abbotsford in search of folks enduring “The Big Soak.”
32 Arrested at Pipeline Blockade as B.C. Diverts 50 RCMP from Emergency Flood Response [Emergency Appeals]
November 21, 2021 – Primary Author: Mitchell Beer – Energy Mix
Heavily-armed RCMP agents stormed an Indigenous blockade Friday and arrested 32 people, including Gidimt’en Clan spokesperson Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham) and two journalists, in another escalation of the dispute over construction of the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline through unceded Wet’suwet’en territory.
Indigenous Communities Embrace Microgrids to Lead Energy Transition
November 8, 2021 – Christopher Bonasia – The Energy Mix
Indigenous communities in Canada are leading the way on the transition to clean energy by using renewable energy microgrids (REMs) as a pathway to community and energy sovereignty, said panelists at a COP 26 workshop session last week.
Lion Electric receives order for 1,000 electric school buses in Canada
OCTOBER 27 – JOSHUA S. HILL – the DRIVEN
Canadian-based manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles Lion Electric Company has received an order for 1,000 electric school buses, which will replace diesel buses from early next year.
The order from Student Transportation of Canada, which is going to access the government’s Zero Emission Transit Fund, would make it the largest operator of zero-emission school buses in North America.
Dangerous Distractions Canada’s carbon emissions and the pathway to net zero.
June 17, 2021 – Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives(CCPA) – Marc Lee
Reducing emissions to zero is a clear concept, but “net zero” muddies the waters in that some greenhouse gas or carbon emissions are permitted as long as they are balanced by “negative emissions” or carbon removals through nature or engineered solutions. Download the full report
DEEP RETROFIT PROGRAM COULD FIX EVERY CANADIAN BUILDING BY 2035 – SUPPLY ENOUGH ELECTRICITY FOR 10 MILLION EV’S
June 24, 2021 – the Energy Mix –
Taking on an audacious “national retrofit mission” would enable Canada to upgrade every building in the country by 2035, eliminate their fossil fuel consumption by 2050, make energy poverty a thing of the past, and free up 50 terawatt-hours of electricity for other uses… according to new analysis released this week by Efficiency Canada.
Canada must support Alberta, Saskatchewan wean itself off oil and gas production
April 26, 2021 – Toronto Star By Gordon Laxer
/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/opinion/contributors/2021/04/26/canada-must-support-alberta-saskatchewan-wean-itself-off-oil-and-gas-production/bitumen.jpg)
Canada has by far the worst G7 climate record and will remain the laggard until we start a managed phase out of the oilsands. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau knows they are the elephant in the room, but is intimidated by Big Oil and the predictable explosive reaction of the Alberta and Saskatchewan governments to even mention it.
Tiny hummingbird stops construction on the Trans Mountain pipeline in B.C. for 4 months
April 26, 2021 – Global News
Work on the Trans Mountain’s pipeline construction has now been stopped for four months after the discovery of hummingbird nests during tree cutting. By Amy Judd
‘CHECKING THE BOXES’ IN FEDERAL CLIMATE PLAN WON’T DELIVER ON CANADA’S PARIS TARGETS, RESEARCHERS WARN
April 19, 2021 – the Energy Mix
Two veteran public interest researchers have come up with a troubling equation they say is at the heart of the federal government’s climate strategy: Carbon Pricing + Hydrogen + Carbon Capture + Nuclear = Paris 2030 and beyond.
Supreme Court rules Ottawa’s carbon tax is constitutional
In 6-3 decision, top court finds federal government can impose nationwide pricing standards.
John Paul Tasker · CBC News · Posted: Mar 25, 2021 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: March 25
EXCLUSIVE: STUDY SHOWS GOVERNMENTS’ OIL AND GAS REVENUE CRASHING AS DECARBONIZATION TAKES HOLD
FEBRUARY 12, 2021 PRIMARY AUTHOR MITCHELL BEER @MITCHELLBEER
Canadian governments stand to lose more than half of their revenue from oil and gas activities through 2040, and nearly nine-tenths of the taxes and royalties the industry says they will collect, as the global economy decarbonizes and shifts away from fossil fuel production, the UK-based Carbon Tracker Initiative concludes in an analysis released this week.
Canada’s Big 5 Banks: The Climate Movement Is Coming For You In 2021
By Rolly Montpellier @Below2C_ -January 15, 2021
Since the Paris Agreement, Canada’s Big Five banks—RBC, TD, BMO, CIBC, Scotia—have financed fossil fuels over half a trillion dollars (C$641 billion) globally and in Canada they provide the lion share (70%) of the money for Tar Sands expansion (C$93 billion).
The 2020 Banking on Climate Change Report finds that, overall, bank financing continues to be aligned with climate breakdown. Thirty five (35) global banks have funneled an additional US$2.7 trillion in fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement (2016-2019) with financing on the rise each year.
Poll: Electric vehicles are picking up speed in public support
Clean Energy Canada | December 15, 2020
BREAKING: CANADA PLACES DEAD LAST ON ENERGY USE, FOURTH-LAST OVERALL IN GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE PERFORMANCE
Canada posts the fourth-worst climate performance in the world, ahead only of Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States, and no country is consistent with the overall targets in the 2015 Paris Agreement, in the latest edition of the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) No country performs well enough in all CCPI index categories to achieve an overall very high rating. The first three positions in the overall ranking therefore remain empty. This says a great deal.
FULL STORY: GERMANWATCH @GERMANWATCH, NEWCLIMATE INSTITUTE @NEWCLIMATEINST, CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK-INTERNATIONAL @CANINTL
DECEMBER 7, 2020
Liberals delay on climate change at the worst possible time
Nov 26, 2020 – The federal government recently introduced Bill C-12, the Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, which, on the surface, signals progress on addressing the climate crisis. — Bill C-12 wrongly focuses on 2030 and beyond as the target-setting timeframe for emissions reductions.
Just north of the oilsands, the largest remote solar farm in Canada is about to power up
The Indigenous-owned project will supply a quarter of Fort Chipewyan’s electricity needs, helping to reduce the need for almost a million litres of diesel each year — Ainslie Cruickshank Nov 18, 2020 – The Narwhal
Canada Boosts Fossil Subsidies to $14.3B Per Year, Joins Saudi Arabia as G20’s Top Two Oil and Gas Funders
Canada averaged US$14.3 billion per year in fossil fuel subsidies between 2017 and 2019, earning it top ranking alongside Saudi Arabia as the two G20 countries with the most generous subsidies for oil and gas production, according a scorecard issued last week by three international think tanks.
NOVEMBER 16, 2020 COMPILED BY THE ENERGY MIX STAFF
Discover the Toxicity of Plastics Recycling
The mass production and consumption of plastics has created perhaps the biggest environmental crisis in human history. To solve the plastic problem we need to start producing and using alternative non-plastic products. And of course we can also recycle, recycle, recycle.
By Below2C | Gaye Taylor, The Energy Mix, @TheEnergyMix -November 12, 2020
What’s at Stake with the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion? The megaproject is already a money-loser for producers. Here’s what else it could threaten.
The swath of land that this pipeline would pass through is uniquely beautiful, dramatic and rare and not something to be taken for granted or put at risk for such dubious gains as have been claimed by the fossil fuel industry and Canadian and Alberta governments. — Garth Lenz
By Garth Lenz and CCPA , Nov 11, 2020 | TheTyee.ca
Reassessment of Need for the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project: Production forecasts, economics and environmental considerations by David Hughes is available for download here.
The ‘Decolonization Bootcamp’ Uniting Cities and Indigenous Reserves
For generations, First Nations territories and Canadian cities treated each other as strangers. Now, they’re finally working, and thriving, together.
Lauren Kaljur 6 Nov 2020 | Reasons to Be Cheerful | TheTyee.ca
15 CLIMATE YOUTH PLAN APPEAL
AFTER COURT REJECTS LAWSUIT FOR FEDERAL RECOVERY PLAN.
Lawyer Joe Arvay argued during a hearing in September that the federal government “is violating the youths’ right to life, liberty, and security of the person under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as their right to equality, because they are disproportionately affected by climate change.”
The Energy Mix, OCTOBER 30, 2020
Report – Billion Dollar Buyout: How Canadian taxpayers bought a climate-killing pipeline and Trump’s trade deal supports it
In the summer of 2018, the Trudeau government invoked the term “national interest” to justify buying the Trans Mountain oil pipeline system from Texas-based Kinder Morgan. Why would a government that says it’s committed to urgent climate action, facilitate the growth of Alberta’s oil sands, Canada’s greatest and fastest growing source of carbon pollution?
By Gordon Laxer, Political Economist and professor emeritus at the University of Alberta.
Building codes development under scrutiny as climate goals loom
Canada’s building code development system is under scrutiny, with some analysts skeptical it can produce the high standards necessary to ensure construction that’s ready for the climate crisis.
By Carl Meyer | News, Energy, Politics, Ottawa Insider | October 22nd 2020
Montreal-based GHGSat unveils global map of methane concentrations
MONTREAL — A Montreal company has unveiled what it boasts is the most accurate map of global methane concentrations ever made.
Methane accounts for a quarter of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
By Jean−Benoit Legault | News | October 21st 2020