Renewables are driving a clean and just recovery towards a low-carbon economy
There is a clear and urgent need to hasten the transition to a low-carbon economy. Indeed, the transition we sorely needed over the past few decades has been so delayed and unenthusiastic that we now require a transformation in order to meet our Paris Agreement commitments, including limiting dangerous warming to 1.5 C. Nonetheless, the […]
Feds’ tree-planting program faces hurdles, with many questions left unanswered, say experts
The government’s recent fall economic statement provided the first official costing of its pledge to plant two billion trees by 2030, pegged at $3.2-billion, a promise experts warn will face big ecological and logistical hurdles given the short timeframe. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) first promised to spend $3-billion “to clean our air and […]
While building back better we need #naturenow
Pre-pandemic, the climate crisis was already critical. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had released its landmark report, the United Nations had declared 2020 a “Nature Super Year,” and a record number of communities across Canada declared climate states of emergencies. COVID-19 may have slowed our pace of life and created a temporary dip in […]
Changing dynamics need changing focus in natural resource sector
Canada’s natural resources have always been the backbone of our national economy, supporting workers and rural communities across the country, while driving central financial markets. But we live in interesting times, and changes in resource prices, international trade tactics, technological innovations, and global environmental concerns have significantly changed the dynamics of this critical sector. The […]
Is the time right for nuclear energy?
Right now, there is both a problem and an opportunity that nuclear energy—particularly in the form of small modular reactors—may be ready to step in and fill. The COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020 highlighted just how difficult it is going to be to reach our goals for decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the main driver behind […]
Resource sector making progress on reconciliation
The resource sector is moving hand in hand with Indigenous peoples in Canada and the outcomes will be theirs to own together—literally. From early equity to preferred procurement, Canada’s resource sector has been making strides toward implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 92 (CTA 92), which implores the private sector to bring […]
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
