It’s not too late to make Canada a world biodiversity champion with conservation finance
If you believe COVID-19 was a costly calamity and climate change a global disaster, just wait for the biodiversity crisis set to be in full motion 10 to 15 years from now. We are actually entering the sixth period of mass extinction since the Earth was formed. Between 1970 and 2016, more than 68 per […]
Canada’s forestry and tree-planting policies must count both sides of the ledger
There was every reason to believe in the early spring of this year that the most ambitious tree-planting program in British Columbia’s history would be scuttled by COVID-19. A record 310 million seedlings were slated to be planted. But with the unfolding pandemic, all bets were off. Only after tree-planting companies, First Nations, provincial health […]
Rethinking resources towards zero-carbon next-generation cities
Many countries have promised to become carbon neutral by 2050. In the Paris climate agreement, Canada committed to a 30 per cent carbon dioxide reduction by 2030, and recently proposed draft legislation to reach zero carbon by 2050. Cities are great drivers of change and can be the most sustainable form of human development, with […]
Natural Resources
The power behind transition: a national energy system strategy
Canada is an energy bank. We need to treat it like one. We require an energy system strategy that would allow Canada to lead (not follow) market opportunities and leverage our capital to transition to a low carbon future. An energy system strategy will allow us to better monitor and achieve our transition. Energy is […]
Is Canada’s oil sector an appropriate target for industrial policy support?
Canadian discussions on the future of oil quickly descend to partisan polemics, with the environmental community arguing that climate change realities mean we need to leave it in the ground, and the oil patch arguing that it’s better that we produce it than our unethical global competitors. It’s hard to see a bridge between those […]
With economic statement, federal government keeps us waiting on real climate action
When it comes to climate policy, the fall economic statement delivered more of what we’ve come to expect from this government: a lot of talk about leadership, some new money for signature policies, but little recognition of the bigger picture challenges facing the country. It amounts to a small step forward when a leap is […]
Canada is on the cusp of a historical energy transformation, let’s do it
The year 2020 is expected to be the largest and most abrupt economic contraction since the Great Depression. The cautious expectation is that, once a vaccine for COVID-19 becomes widely available, the economy can enter a quick rebuilding phase. In the months to come, the federal government will be seeking to kick-start Canada’s economic recovery, […]
Experts and parliamentarians look ahead to SMR action plan to be released in near future
When Seamus O’Regan was sworn in as minister of natural resources on Nov. 20, 2019, his mandate letter didn’t explicitly mention nuclear energy, although it did use language like “clean technology” but he’s clearly communicated his intention to make nuclear a big part of Canada’s clean energy future. “He’s been more active on this file […]
Climate and shifting markets define energy challenges for Canada
The state of energy policy in Canada, as it relates to fossil fuels, is defined by two major issues: the stalling out, with the possible exception of Quebec, of meaningful progress on climate change; and distress in the Alberta oil and gas sector, a product of weak demand and low commodity prices—trends that pre-dated the COVID-19 pandemic. The […]
