The Pembina Institute's Clare Demerse writes about the Harper government's goal to "harmonize" our climate policy with that of the United States; and compares Canada's climate policy to a character from a romantic comedy — "the girl so afraid of being alone that she'll settle for anyone." Read More
Environmental Law Centre Executive Director Cindy Chiasson appeared on CBC Radio's The Current to talk about the significant changes to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act that are buried in the federal government's omnibus budget bill, Bill C-9.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has released two new roadmaps — Solar Photovoltaic Power & Concentrating Solar Power — suggesting that solar power could provide up to 25% of global electricity production by 2050. The Pembina Institute's Tim Weis blogs about the findings and the policy shifts required to fully realize solar power's potential. Read More
The Pembina Institute's Clare Demerse gives us the highlights of the new report, Measuring Up: Benchmarking Canada’s Competitiveness in a Low-Carbon World, from the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE).
Canada ranks just behind the U.S. and finishes ahead of Italy and Russia. France, Germany and the U.K. take the top three spots. So while our government is adamant that we must harmonize Canada's climate policies with the U.S., there are actually much better role models among our G8 peers.
Link to the post on the Pembina Climate Change website. Read More
In the wake of the Gulf oil spill, there is increasing debate about the role of Alberta's oil sands as an alternative to offshore drilling to supply American energy needs. The Sierra Club's Executive Director, John Bennett, joined CBC Radio's alberta@noon to discuss the issue and take listeners' calls.
Eight conservation groups, including AEN members CPAWS and Greenpeace, and the Canadian forest industry have signed off on one of the largest conservation agreements in the world. The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement covers 72 million hectares of publically owned forests — an area twice the size of Germany.
The Pembina Institute's PJ Partington has crunched the numbers and come up with some interesting insights regarding the discrepancy between Alberta's contribution to GHG emissions and to economic growth.
What jumps out right away is that Alberta is responsible for over half (52 per cent) of Canada's emissions growth since 1990, despite being responsible for only 18 per cent of GDP growth and 19 per cent of the growth in population. Combined with Saskatchewan, the two provinces account for an astonishing 74 per cent of national GHG growth, but only 20 per cent of Canada's GDP growth and 19 per cent of population growth.
In the wake of the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice has joined Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach to beat the drum for the oil sands. Prentice recently portrayed the oil sands as a less environmentally risky alternative to offshore drilling. The Pembina Institute's Danielle Droitsch takes Minister Prentice and Premier Stelmach to task for "using their positions to sell the oil sands" rather than acting "as stewards to province's resources, ensuring responsible development of the oil sands and proper regulation of oil sands operators." She concludes:
The Gulf oil spill is not an opportunity to claim the oil sands are something they're not - safer, cleaner or more secure. The spill should serve as a grave reminder of what can happen if oil is not developed responsibly. Moreover, the spill should set in motion a cleaner, carbon-free energy future, where we don't depend on risky, environmentally damaging fossil fuels at all.
The Pembina Institute's PJ Partington gives us the highlights of the letter in defence of climate research from 255 members of the U.S. National Academy of Science. The letter was published in the May 7, 2010 issue of the journal Science. You can read the full text of the letter here.
Society has two choices: We can ignore the science and hide our heads in the sand and hope we are lucky, or we can act in the public interest to reduce the threat of global climate change quickly and substantively. The good news is that smart and effective actions are possible. But delay must not be an option.
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