Canadians with fixed-rate mortgages ‘terrified’ in face of higher interest rates upon renewal

After seven interest rate hikes implemented by the Bank of Canada in 2022, Anita Gupta says she won’t be able to afford her home payments by the time her fixed-rate mortgage comes up for renewal in March.

As a result, Gupta said she has no choice but to sell her home.

“We don’t stand a chance … we’re packing right now,” Gupta told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview on Thursday. “It’s going to be extremely difficult to renew because the interest rate is going to be twice as much.”

Diagnosed with fibromyalgia, the 62-year-old Kitchener, Ont., resident said she is currently receiving disability support while her husband receives a pension. With a fixed income, the couple won’t be able to handle any increases in their mortgage payment, Gupta said.

Due to rising interest rates, some Canadians expecting to renew their mortgage in the near future will likely lock in a higher rate, which may leave them paying hundreds more each month, Zlatkin said. |Read more https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/canadians-with-fixed-rate-mortgages-terrified-in-face-of-higher-interest-rates-upon-renewal-1.6191490|
#cdnpoli #homes #mortage #affordability #inflation

New Fossil Investment Far Exceeds Paris Climate Goals: Carbon Tracker

The assessment of 52 large fossil companies found https://carbontracker.org/reports/paris-maligned/ that nearly two-thirds of them had approved a combined US $136 billion in new project investments last year and another $30 billion through March 31, 2022. Almost all of that capital spending was inconsistent with a 1.5°C future, 62% of it would exceed the official “well below 2°C” target in the Paris climate agreement, and $58 billion of the total would push average warming past 2.5°.

Highest-spending companies on the Carbon Tracker list include Shell, Chinese state fossils PetroChina and Sinopec, Equinor, TotalÉnergies, and Eni, with Canadian fossils Suncor, Cenovus, and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. showing up in the report.

Out of the entire list, Carbon Tracker says only three companies are planning to reduce oil production and only one, BP, expects to see gas extraction decline by 2030.

Instead, companies are pushing ahead with what they see as business as usual in spite of clear warnings https://www.theenergymix.com/2021/05/19/its-the-end-of-oil-blockbuster-iea-report-urges-no-new-fossil-development/ from the International Energy Agency and others that no new oil, gas, or coal projects are consistent with a 1.5°C future. “Even alignment with a well below 2°C scenario requires production declines of at least 14% by 2035, with our modelling indicating that a significant proportion of proposed oil and gas developments need not see the light of day,” Carbon Tracker writes.

Even that assessment is based on the IEA’s “less ambitious interpretation of the Paris goals” that relies excessively on carbon capture technologies that haven’t proven they’re ready for prime time.

“The science is clear: to reduce the rate of global warming, greenhouse gas emissions must fall rapidly, necessitating a fundamental shift in our energy system,” the report states. But “as a result of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, 2022 has been a bumper year for the oil and gas industry. Majors such as ExxonMobil, Shell, and Chevron are reporting consecutive record quarterly profits, and the current high-price environment is tempting investment in new developments and exploration.” |Read more https://www.theenergymix.com/2022/12/12/new-fossil-investment-far-exceeds-paris-climate-goals-carbon-tracker/|
#climate #cdnpoli #FossilWarnings #CarbonTracker

Canada to stop direct financing of foreign fossil fuel projects with tight exceptions

With weeks until an end-of-year deadline it agreed to last year, Canada has announced that it will end new direct subsidies for fossil fuel investments and projects abroad – including those owned by Canadian companies.

The policy released Thursday afternoon applies to the extraction, production, transportation, refining and marketing of crude oil, natural gas or thermal coal, as well as power generation projects that do not use technologies such as carbon capture to significantly reduce emissions.,

The rules, which take effect Jan. 1, will apply to direct funding from federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations.

Advocates had feared that Canada would opt for a narrower definition of “international” that would nonetheless allow support for Canadian companies abroad, which climate-change organization Environmental Defence estimates makes up about 78 per cent of Canada’s international support for such projects.

But the policy defines “international” as “operations outside of Canada’s jurisdiction in the fossil fuel energy sector regardless of owner domicile.” This means that the federal government is barring itself from funding even fossil fuel projects wholly owned by Canadian companies. |More here https://globalnews.ca/news/9336709/fossil-fuels-canada-financing/|

Guess what? Alberta is on track to meet its 2030 renewable energy goal ahead of schedule

In 2016, the Alberta government set itself an ambitious target to help wean the province off its reliance on fossil fuels for electricity.

The Renewable Electricity Act https://www.alberta.ca/renewable-energy-legislation-and-reporting.aspx called for 30 per cent of all electricity produced in the province to come from renewables by 2030. For a grid like Alberta’s, which was still heavily reliant on coal, the target was significant.

Six years later, and still riding the momentum created by the 30 per cent target and previous government policies to support it, the province is on track to meet — or exceed — the goal and is close to surpassing an interim target calling for 15 per cent of electricity produced in Alberta to come from power sources such as wind and solar in 2022.

Alberta’s program included a series of three auctions where developers competed for government-backed contracts that ensured a base rate of return. This drove a surge of new projects https://thenarwhal.ca/alberta-renewable-energy-surge/ on Alberta’s wind-swept and sun-baked hills and fields. In total, the auctions increased renewable energy capacity https://www.pembina.org/media-release/REP2-auction-delivers-good-news in the province to 4,200 megawatts from 2,828 megawatts — that increase is enough to power over 750,000 homes.

That program was cancelled https://calgaryherald.com/business/energy/renewable-energy-plan-officially-dead-but-ab-wind-companies-still-see-a-bright-future by the UCP government under former premier Jason Kenney when it took power in 2019. It argued the government was no longer needed in the process. |Read more https://thenarwhal.ca/alberta-renewable-energy-2030/|
#abpoli #climate #solar #susatainable #energy