Copy
The Energy Mix 04/27/2020, brought to you by Energy Mix Productions and Smarter Shift
 
 
During the pandemic, we're still pulling together the day's top climate news, but with more emphasis on stories of community, resilience, and hope. If you like what you see, tell a friend and ask them to sign up for a free subscription. Stay safe, stay well, and keep doing what you can to #FlattenTheCurve.
 
 
 
Guilbeault, McKenna, Wilkinson Assigned to Chart Post-COVID Green Recovery
 
Federal cabinet ministers Steven Guilbeault, Catherine McKenna, and Jonathan Wilkinson have been handed responsibility for crafting “an economic recovery plan that aims to accelerate the green shift” as the immediate COVID-19 crisis subsides, La Presse revealed last week
 
Read More
 
 
 

 

Texas Methane Emissions Hit All-Time High, Global Output Set to Rise as Pandemic Curtails Equipment Maintenance

Methane emissions from the massive Permian Basin shale fields in Texas and New Mexico are more than twice the U.S. government estimate, according to a paper published last week in the journal Science Advances, and experts say global emissions are on track to increase during the COVID-19 crisis as low oil prices push producers to save money on scheduled maintenance of pipelines and other infrastructure.

 
 

 

Alberta Pension Fund Manager AIMCo Loses $4 Billion on Bad Fossil Investments

A bad bet on fluctuating oil prices cost Alberta’s public pension funds more than C$4 billion last month, after the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) bought into a collection of contracts that never paid off in a stock market upended by falling oil prices and the global pandemic.

 
 

 

The Interview: COVID Demands Global Investment to Build Back Better, McArthur Says

Shaughn McArthur is Policy and Influence Lead at CARE Canada, and has been a leading voice for Canadian civil society at the last several United Nations climate change conferences. He’s been looking at the way the global focus on the pandemic has drawn attention away from the climate emergency—and how action on COVID can bring both crises together.

 
 

 
 
ae335485-8785-45aa-a190-e0bfe63e38ea.jpg
 

Week 17, April 27: Fossil-Fuel Wind-Down

In 2017, Canada’s oil and gas sector produced 195 Mt of CO2e, accounting for 27% of the country’s emissions. Between 2020 and 2024, oil and gas corporations are planning to invest US$1.4 trillion in new extraction projects, 85% of which are in the U.S. or Canada, 50% of which former Bank of England governor Mark Carney tells us will result in stranded financial assets.

Read More
 

COVID-19 meets The Climate Emergency. How do they relate? Guy Dauncey’s 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada is an off-carbon roadmap for the 2020s, for when we emerge from the pandemic. We’re publishing a different segment each week until the series is complete. Click here for our latest, here for the whole series.

 
 
 

 

‘Radical Agenda’ in Memo to Ministers Shows Fossil Fuel Lobby Losing Touch

The epic news conference in mid-April where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced C$2.4 billion in job creation funding for the country’s oil and gas workers, but not the $30-billion bailout the industry had demanded, was the second-worst moment in a very bad week for the fossil fuel lobby.

 
 

 

Mid-Density Cities Can Meet Community Needs While Containing Sprawl, Ryerson Report Concludes

An institute at Toronto’s Ryerson University is diving right into the looming debate over urban density in an age of pandemic.

 
 

 

Post-Pandemic ‘Metro Makeovers’ Could Bring Better Pedestrian, Bike Access

Dense cities across Europe are making bike lanes and pedestrian thoroughfares the linchpins in their plans to slowly return citizens to some semblance of normal life—partly in anticipation of a transit-wary public, and partly to double down on a pre-pandemic trend of banning cars from city cores. 

 
 

 

Pandemic’s Economic Hit Threatens Off-Grid Power in Developing Countries

Off-grid electricity companies that have been supplying power to poor communities in developing nations are struggling to keep the lights on as the economic fallout of COVID-19 leaves more and more customers unable to pay their bills. 

 
 

 

17 of 27 EU Countries Link Pandemic Recovery to European Green Deal

Nearly two-thirds of the countries in the European Union have signed on to an appeal to put the European Green Deal at the heart of the continent’s post-pandemic recovery, after Ireland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Malta joined the crowd last week.

 
 

 

Blistering Critiques for Moore’s Planet of the Humans: Short on Facts, Arbitrary in Style

An Earth Day release by filmmaker Michael Moore and director Jeff Gibbs, purporting to show that a clean energy transition won’t help address the climate crisis and that climate campaigners have sold out to “wealthy interests and corporate America”, has spurred an avalanche of critical analysis, prompting one of its distributors to take the online video out of circulation before putting it back up a half-day later.

 
 

 

Pandemic Points to Resilience Gaps in Supply Chain Management

Recent pandemic-driven shortages have made it clear that mapping supply networks, reconfiguring procurement, and incorporating “disruption-related metrics” into the evaluation of suppliers are critical to building resilience into global supply chains.

 
 

 

CoronaCulture: ‘Fragile Moment’ Brings Outbreaks of Decency, Ethical Shift

The current long moment of enforced solitude is an opportunity to recognize how pre-pandemic life was really quite appalling for far too many people, and to vow to work together to ensure that we do not simply revert to the unkind, unjust status quo post-pandemic, writes Berlin-based Globe and Mail columnist Elizabeth Renzetti.

 
 

 
 
VISIT OUR ARCHIVE FOR MORE THAN 15,000 ARTICLES OF INDEXED, CURATED NEWS.
 
Visit The Energy Mix
 
Donate to The Energy Mix
 
 
 
Top Headlines
Keystone Court Ruling Delays Pipelines Across U.S.
Chinese Consortium Pulls Plug on Plans for World’s Second-Biggest Coal Plant
North Dakota Flares 19% of Gas Production Into Atmosphere in 2019
Community Gardens Reopen in Ontario
U.S. Community Solar is Hiring While Pandemic Rages
 
CARBON-FREE TRANSITION
Chinese Consortium Pulls Plug on Plans for World’s Second-Biggest Coal Plant
More Than 150 Catholic Institutions Divest Fossil Fuels
U.S. Tribe Fights Uphill Against Climate Impacts
Grid Structure Sometimes Inhibits Renewables+Storage Projects
New Solar Plant in China Aims to Meet Half of Global Demand
 
Community Resilience
Community Gardens Reopen in Ontario
U.S. Community Solar is Hiring While Pandemic Rages
Utilities Could Help Low-Income Customers Buy Solar
U.S. Utility Turns Efficiency Gains into Clean Power Supply
UK Virtual Power Stations Let Homeowners Sell to Grid
 
Climate Crisis
North Dakota Flares 19% of Gas Production Into Atmosphere in 2019
Birds Learn New Feeding Techniques to Adapt to Changing Climate
Study Projects Future Methane Emissions from Wetlands
Climate Science Fraud, ‘Merchant of Doubt’ Fred Singer Dead at Age 95
Mississippi River Towns Brace for Flooding on Top of Virus
 
Canada
Canadian Faith Groups Launch Climate Justice Project
Provinces Deem EV Charging an Essential Service in Pandemic
FCM Looks to Community Planning to Factor In Climate
EVs Boost Canadian Market Share Despite Disruptions
Malartic, Quebec Sets Sights on Active Transportation
 
U.S.
Keystone Court Ruling Delays Pipelines Across U.S.
U.S. Electricity Demand Hit 17-Year Low in Mid-April
U.S. East Coast Picks Up the Pace on Decarbonization
Connecticut Marks Earth Day with EV Roadmap
Lack of Chargers Keeps EVs Out of U.S. Mainstream
 
International
South African Fossil Ends $13B Investment in U.S. Petrochemical Plant
VW EV Plant Faces Major Production Snags
260-MW Array is China’s Biggest Unsubsidized Solar Project
Clear Skies Drive Record Solar Output in Spain, Germany, UK
RWE Touts Batteries to Help Data Centres Manage Demand
 
 
Copyright 2019 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy MIx Productions Inc. All rights reserved.
View this email in your browser
Forward to a Friend
This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
Why did I get this?    Unsubscribe from this list    Update subscription preferences    Privacy policy
Energy Mix Productions Inc. · 1227 Wellington Street W. · Ottawa, ON K1Y 0G7 · Canada