2024 was the year of climate crisis: so how did it fall off the political agenda?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was clear: to keep a habitable planet, and to ensure the survival of human civilization, greenhouse gas emissions must peak and begin to decline rapidly ‘at the latest before 2025.’ The clock is ticking, but politicians are not leaders. We look at polls and rush to distract the citizenry with shiny trinkets.
Divestment is not enough
The federal government should incentivize impact investing.
The role of health care in mitigating the climate crisis
It’s time for our governments to bring our health societies and institutions together, and task them with creating a targeted climate action plan for the health-care sector in Canada.
This country urgently needs a national fire administration
Fire chiefs know that Ottawa wants to get it right when it comes to the best model to pursue, but time’s up. A national fire administration would get these fire and life safety issues out of the federal government’s blind-spot, and on to the table. The only real cost is the cost of inaction.
Oil and gas emissions cap will create new investment and jobs in Alberta
There is a path for the fossil fuel sector, including the oilsands, to decarbonize, but companies won’t do it voluntarily. It’s the government’s job to plan for our future economy. That is why additional regulation is urgently needed.
‘While the future cannot be predicted, it absolutely can be redirected’: young people hit Parliament to call for action
Climate change, demographic shifts, and new technologies will dramatically change childhood in the coming years, while Children and Social Development Minister Jenna Sudds acknowledged governments needed to reflect young people’s ‘voices and your wants for the future.’
As COP29 wraps up, will Canada finally stop funding fossils this fall?
The pathway to zero emissions and a climate-safe future doesn’t include support for the fossil fuel industry. Will Canada finally turn off the financial taps to our most polluting industry, and use part of that cash to pay its climate debt?
Climate finance should target resilient food systems
In the coming months, the government will release a new international climate finance package. We are asking for it to support small-scale food producers in the Global South in adapting to climate change, writes Carol Thiessen.
The future of emissions trading: can Canada come up with a business case for a ‘businessman-president’?
If Canada wants to matter more to our allies, helping create an Article 6-like system that allows for progress even if the U.S. leaves the Paris Agreement would help not only emissions reductions, but also our own interests as an energy-exporting powerhouse.
Dangers to global security from climate change increase with Trump’s win
Regardless of their stance on setting targets and acting to curb greenhouse gas emissions, governments in Canada will have to grapple with climate change’s impact on citizens’ security and wellbeing.
