Canada now a greater polluter than U.S.

Good luck selling Canada's GHG aspirations in Glasgow, Mr Trudeau. Don't forget to include the GH gases that will result from the oil that will 'flow' through our Trans Mountain pipeline.
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The Lead

A new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives finds that Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions increased by 3.3 per cent between 2016 and 2019. The percentage change represents a greater increase than the U.S., whose emissions rose by just 0.6 per cent, while the other G7 countries curbed “greenhouse gas emissions by (between) 4.4 per cent to 10.8 per cent.”

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“We have politicians that are trying to please everybody and are making totally counterproductive policy decisions,” said author David Hughes, calling it a “stark contradiction between government priorities, which are building the Trans Mountain Expansion to the coast… (and) reducing emissions by 40 per cent by 2030.” “

“It’s going to lead to continuous growth for as long as the resource inputs hold out, and then a crash, a very painful crash,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Canada Energy Regulator says the oil and gas sector will prevent Canada from reaching its Paris climate accord target of “an 80 per cent reduction from 2005 levels by 2050.”

“Even if you reduce emissions from every other sector of the economy to zero, we’d still miss an 80 per cent reduction target by 32 per cent in 2050,” said Hughes. “However, we claim that we’re going to get to net zero by 2050, so the numbers just don’t make any sense.” The Canadian Press has this story.

Internationally

Three weeks of virtual climate talks began on Monday, the Associated Press reports.

The 2015 Paris climate accord will be a key talking point, “including rules for international carbon markets, harmonizing countries’ timeframes for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and providing aid to developing nations.”

“We need to show up in Glasgow (at the United Nations climate summit) with decisions ready to be taken,” said the head of the UN climate office, Patricia Espinosa.

Elsewhere, Spain’s Environment Minister Teresa Ribera announced her government has approved draft legislation “to limit the windfall profits hydro and nuclear plants make as rising carbon dioxide prices drive up electricity bills,” writes Reuters.

“This is just over 1 billion euros that … we think should reduce consumers’ electricity bills,” Ribera told a news briefing after the weekly cabinet meeting.

In other news, Norwegian energy company Equinor, Texas-headquartered oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil, and Petrogal Brasil have announced a $8-billion investment in Brazil’s Bacalhau oilfield.

“Estimated recoverable reserves for the first phase are more than one billion barrels of oil,” said Equinor executive vice-president Arne Sigve Nylund. Reuters has more.
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It’s official: Alberta’s oilsands tailings ponds are leaking. Now what?

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