On March 29, 2022, the Federal Government released its most recent climate policy statement, called the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP). The document lays out details of promised future policies that the government says will reduce Canada’s total domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Yet it also includes a plan…
Category: Articles
Call for an independent public inquiry to advise the Federal Government and inform Canadians on a safe plan for Canada’s future oil production
Canada’s new Emissions Reduction Plan announced on March 29, 2022, includes a detailed plan by our government to continue increasing Canada’s oil production to 2030 and maintain high production levels for another 20 years after that. The plan envisions no significant reduction…
Net-Zero Advisory Body is silent on Canada’s expanding oil production
Over 85% of the emissions from every barrel of oil we produce in Canada occurs after we export our oil, when it is burned as fuel in cars and trucks (“downstream emissions”) and released as tailpipe emissions. The downstream emissions from our exported oil are currently more than 700 Mt annually. Although the government…
Member of Parliament misleads Canadians on Bay du Nord
On May 31, 2022, we sent a letter to a Member of Parliament named Julie Dabrusin. Most Canadians will never have heard of her. We all have a duty and responsibility to challenge anyone who poses as a politician concerned about climate policy. Dabrusin is one of those.
Canada’s New Climate Plan and increasing oil production
Canada’s most recent climate policy statement was released on March 29, 2022. It promises deep cuts in our domestic emissions by 2030. The scheme assures Canadians that these policies will contribute to a global effort to keep the ongoing increase in the earth’s average surface temperature…
Failure of Carbon Capture and Storage technology
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development during the past two weeks has been holding hearings that have focused on the government’s plan to use taxpayers’ money to subsidize a $75 billion scheme to support large-scale deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage…
Canada’s $75 billion dollar plan to subsidize more oil production
The promise by government is that CCUS technology will enable our emissions-intensive oil industry to continue to expand and to maintain high production levels for another 30 years, while we use CCUS to “remove” and sequester the CO2 emissions that are presently released into the atmosphere…
Why 2030 is an unforgiving deadline
The UN Emissions Gap Report 2021 released on October 25, 2021, confronts us with the reality that, with only nine years remaining, the world’s largest emitting countries are not remotely on track to achieve the very deep emissions reductions that are required by 2030 to avoid the gravest impacts…
Reliance on future CDR technologies is “a dangerous trap”
The Liberal Government is required by March 31, 2022, to publicly release details of its promised plan to reduce the annual level of Canada’s GHG emissions 40% to 45% by 2030, below the 2005 level. Our national emissions were 730 Mt in 2019. A 45% reduction, down to about 401 Mt, would require…
Canada’s “Net-Zero Emissions by 2050” Promise
It is now more than a full year since the Liberal Government on November 19, 2020, announced its new “net-zero” goal for 2050. Greenhouse gas emissions in all seven sectors of the Canadian economy in 2019 totalled 730 million tonnes (Mt) of CO2eq. Canada’s commitment under the 2015 Paris Agreement…