The five-year plan, released by Premier Li Kequiang at a National
People’s Congress session “as heavy smog settled over Beijing,” contains
“no target for limiting total energy consumption and no overall carbon
emissions cap, which campaigners had been calling for,” Climate Home
News reports.
“This leaves room for emissions to continue to increase to 2025,
deferring the heavy lifting on decarbonization until later this decade.”
Tag Archives: China
Pipe Dream: Taxpayer-Owned TMX Is a Bust, Concludes Analyst
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Cenovus and Husky, two of the five largest oilsands producers, just merged to save money by killing more than 2,000 jobs. Suncor axed another 2,000 employees. The so-called “economic engine of Canada” is shedding jobs, not making them.
As the world’s oil industry shrinks, prospects for global economic recovery seem remote if not problematic, because the world runs on oil.
China, the presumed market for Alberta’s heavy sour crude, has arrested two of our citizens, bullied our leaders and become a global exporter of technological tyranny.
And climate change, the topic everyone likes to endlessly talk about, continues to erode shorelines, burn forests, create refugees and undermine global security.
So does the world still need the Trans Mountain expansion project?
That’s the timely question David Hughes, one of the country’s foremost energy experts, deftly answers in his latest report for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Source: Pipe Dream: Taxpayer-Owned TMX Is a Bust, Concludes Analyst | The Tyee
Related
UPDATE 3-Canada’s Supreme Court dismisses appeal of long-delayed Trans Mountain oil pipeline
Saying no to a coal comeback: The Vista coal mine
Coal mining in an open pit by Mark Agnor via Shutterstock
Coal projects — such as the proposed Vista coal mine expansion – threaten the climate, human health, biodiversity, and the air, land, and water.
Thermal coal is the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel, toxic for human health and disastrous for the climate. In fact, burning coal is responsible for a nearly half of carbon emissions around the world.
That’s why Ecojustice stepped up to represent clients concerned about the Vista coal mine expansion.
If built, the proposed expansion could result in the extraction of up to 15 MT of coal per year. When shipped and consumed abroad, burning this much coal could lead to 33 MT of carbon. By comparison, the largest single source of carbon in Canada is currently another coal plant in Alberta that emits 12.7 MT of carbon dioxide a year – just over one-third of Vista’s total projected emissions.
Source: Saying no to a coal comeback: The Vista coal mine
Then, There Is Solar
China’s President Xi Jinping surprised the global community recently by committing his country to net-zero emissions by 2060. Prior to this announcement, the prospect of becoming “carbon neutral” barely rated a mention in China’s national policies.
These Alberta mines expect to ship the majority of the metallurgical coal and thermal coal to Asian markets including China. Naturally if they are slashing their consumption, it could cause some concern for mining companies in Alberta, including Riversdale Resources. It will be interesting to see what happens.[Read more]
Solar photovoltaics are now cheaper than plants fired by coal and natural gas in most nations, the Paris-based researchers concludes in its annual report on global energy trends. Those cheaper costs along with government efforts to slash climate-damaging emissions will increasingly push coal off the grid and give renewables 80 per cent of the market for new power generation by 2030, the IEA says.[Read more]
One Of The World’s Top COVID-19 Vaccines Is ‘stuck’ In Customs—Is The Delay Deliberate? | Inventiva
“If
these vaccine trials are successful, we can produce and distribute it
right here at home,” Trudeau said at a press conference. “Research and
development take time and must be done right, but this is encouraging
news.”
these vaccine trials are successful, we can produce and distribute it
right here at home,” Trudeau said at a press conference. “Research and
development take time and must be done right, but this is encouraging
news.”
Nearly three months later, Canada is still waiting for the vaccine to ship.
Health Canada, a government agency that oversees the country’s health policy, told Fortune that
the shipment has “not yet been approved by Chinese customs for shipment
to Canada.” Dalhousie University in Canada, which is partnering with
CanSino Biologics to conduct the trials, told Fortune that its
Canadian Center for Vaccinology is “prepared and ready” to begin the
trials once the supplies arrive, but doesn’t have a timeline as to when
that might be. CanSino did not respond to requests for comment.
The G7 summit could be a mess — but some experts say Trudeau should go anyway | CBC News
The president’s focus on China represents a particular challenge for Trudeau.
Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig remain behind bars, arrested by Beijing in retaliation for Canada’s detention of Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition warrant.
China’s also banned shipments of Canadian canola and other agricultural products in the past year.
Trump’s desire for a strong statement on China may not be in Canada’s best interests. Even so, Robertson said it shouldn’t be a reason to stay away.