Canada’s Climate Change Election: An Energy Mix Special Report Launches Today

Climate change and the transition off fossil fuels are emerging as top-tier issues in the federal election coming up this fall. And between now and October 21, The Energy Mix has got you covered. Today, we’re proud to launch Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019, a special report where we will consolidate the news and opinion that will shape the next four years on the single biggest issue the country faces.

McKenna Promises $50 Carbon Tax Cap After Parliamentary Budget Officer Suggests Higher Charge

A carbon pricing report by Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) Yves Giroux set off a small flurry of pre-election posturing last week, with the Conservative opposition claiming the release was a stalking horse for future tax increases and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna promising to limit the levy to C$50 per tonne after it hits that scheduled threshold in 2022.

Pembina Applauds, Fossils Claim ‘Disrespect’ as House Passes Amended Impact Assessment Act

The Pembina Institute applauded a step forward and the fossil lobby accused a senior federal cabinet minister of being “disrespectful” as the amended Bill C-69, the proposed federal Impact Assessment Act, passed the House of Commons in a party-line vote Thursday evening with its essential features largely intact.

Drawdown is an inventory of the 100 top options for reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and stabilizing the global climate. The Energy Mix is summarizing the 100 chapters as a service to readers. Get details and buy the book here.

Senate Committee Urges Federal Support for Northern Climate Resilience

The climate resilience of Canada’s Northern communities—many of them Indigenous—is an urgent priority that calls for better financial and technical support from the Trudeau government, the Special Senate Committee on the Arctic concludes in a recent report.

Austria Speeds Up Coal Phaseout to 2020

Austria’s electricity system will be free of coal next year, after power utility EVN announced late last month that it will shut down its 405-megawatt Dürnrohr plant in the Zwentendorf district five years ahead of schedule.

U.S. Fertilizer Plants Emit 100 Times More Methane Than They Report, Field Research Shows

There’s a yawning gap between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimate for climate-busting methane emissions in America’s industrial sector and real-world levels of leakage, according to new analysis by Cornell University and the Environmental Defense Fund.

Oceans Could Lose 17% of Biomass by 2100 Unless GHG Emissions Are Brought Under Control

The world’s oceans could lose 17% of their biomass by 2100 if humanity fails to get greenhouse gas emissions under control, representing a devastating blow to biodiversity and a terrifying reduction in a resource base upon which much of humanity ultimately depends.

Critics Scorch UK’s Net-Zero Announcement for Slow Transition, Misuse of International Carbon Credits

Soon-to-depart Prime Minister Theresa May has unveiled legislation to make the UK the first G7 country to enshrine a 2050 net-zero carbon deadline in law, with a plan that has taken fire from analysts and activists for its reliance on international carbon credits and yet-to-be-proven “negative emissions” technologies.

Subsidies Would Help Deliver Mini-Grids as Cheapest Rural Electrification for Sub-Saharan Africa

While subsidies have helped ensure the expansion of national power grid systems around the world, using public money to finance solar mini-grids is less established—a situation that needs to change in sub-Saharan Africa, investors urge, where 573 million people still live without electric power.

Investigative Report Links Foreign Funding to Pro-Fossil Propaganda Outlet

Urgent alert to Jason Kenney and Vivian Krause! Another “foreign-funded radical” has just been identified, and the unity of our country will hang in the balance until you can direct all your taxpayer-funded investigative might toward…Alberta-based Rebel Media and its self-styled “Rebel Commander”, not-quite-disbarred former lawyer Ezra Levant.

Canada Earns Praise for Global Coal Phaseout, Falls Behind on Renewables Deployment

Canada earned its share of international praise last month in a report that highlighted the country’s leadership in the global coal phaseout, shone a light on its slow uptake of renewable energy, and said nothing about the domestic pipeline battles that will likely dominate the news over the coming week.