Quebec is planning to ban sales of new internal combustion cars, from compact vehicles to pick-up trucks and SUVs, as of 2035, Environment Minister Benoit Charette revealed over the weekend, in what CBC is framing as the “flagship measure” in the province’s five-year, C$6.7-billion green economy and climate plan.
“The measure is part of the Plan for a Green Economy the Minister will unveil on Monday,” the French-language Montreal daily reported in a Saturday exclusive. “It did not appear in the versions of the plan that La Presse described in recent months.”
He also promised to eliminate federal subsidies to the oil industry and move to net-zero emissions by 2050. President Donald Trump, sensing a major blunder by his opponent, called on voters in Pennsylvania, Texas, Oklahoma and Ohio to vote against Biden’s energy plans.
The moment was noteworthy because it highlighted the new political importance of climate change and energy policy in U.S. politics. The Democratic candidate, now the president-elect, enthusiastically committed to taking action on climate change and energy transition. What’s equally significant is that Biden’s strong climate change position doesn’t appear to have hurt him in the key swing state of Pennsylvania or in the general election more broadly.
Serious climate plan
Although Biden’s climate plan is not as ambitious as the Green New Deal advocated by the left of the Democratic Party, his plans are serious.
He has called for a “Clean Energy Revolution” that includes mandatory emission cuts from electric utilities and support for electric vehicles. An interesting aspect of his overall plan is a commitment to spend at least 40 per cent of funds in historically disadvantaged areas.
Biden’s energy revolution will be limited by several factors, however.
His efforts will be constrained by the Democrats’ failure so far to win the Senate — two runoff elections in Georgia in early January will determine what party controls the chamber — combined with continued opposition from the fossil fuel industry and communities dependent upon fossil fuels.
Implications for Canada
Nevertheless, Biden can be expected to move ahead in response to climate science and pressure by some of his key constituencies, such as young people and progressives. This has significant implications for Canada and Canadians.
Any Canadians hoping for U.S. government support for the ongoing expansion of Canada’s fossil fuel infrastructure are likely going to be disappointed.
An example of this is the Keystone XL pipeline. Designed to bring Canadian oilsands bitumen to American refineries, its approvals were halted by former president Barack Obama in 2015 and renewed by Trump.
Opponents of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada are seen demonstrating in sub-freezing temperatures on in October 2019 in Billings, Mont. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)
Politically, this is a relatively painless action for Biden to burnish his climate change credentials. Canadian government and industry arguments about the need for more pipelines face an uphill battle.
More competition
A second implication is that Canadian industry can expect to see more competition from U.S. firms climbing on the climate change bandwagon. American companies will ramp up clean energy technologies and products. The question is whether Canadian-based industry will be up to the challenge and receive adequate government support.
There is some indication that even some of the most anti-environmental politicians are slowly starting to recognize the urgency to take climate action. Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford has vigorously campaigned against any form of a carbon tax and rolled back measures supporting renewable energy.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in a news conference at the Ford Connectivity and Innovation Centre in Ottawa in October 2020, joined virtually from Oakville by Ontario Premier Doug Ford. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Yet he also recently committed $295 million to the Ford car company for its plans to build electric vehicles in Ontario.
This realization of the significant economic opportunities offered by green technologies opens up the door to a more evidence-based discussion of how public policy can support both a green economy and economic growth.
The transition is coming. The question is whether Canada will turn it into an opportunity to clean our air and environment, or make the transition more difficult by delaying action and spending vast sums to maintain fossil fuel production and employment.
The energy transition is a challenge facing all countries, but it will be particularly difficult for Canada because so much of our economy and large regions of our country are heavily dependent on the exploitation of fossil fuels.
Assistance for affected communities and industries is vital, but at the moment, many politicians are more comfortable denying the necessity and inevitability of the changes that are coming.
Indigenous communities that have been marginalized and harmed by other people’s exploitation of natural resources, as well as racialized and poor communities exposed to dangerous environmental risks, need to be integrated into clean energy spending.
People pause in a forested area along the Brunette River where trees are to be felled as part of Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, during a guided tour in Burnaby, B.C., in August 2020, led by Indigenous leaders and environmental groups. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
The president-elect is committed to moving on the issue of climate change. Important parts of his electoral coalition are also adamant that he oversee a transition to renewable energy. Equally important, his policies reflect the overwhelming scientific evidence that aggressive action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is required to avoid serious economic and social consequences.
Can Canada respond similarly?
There is a discussion forum topic with a similar theme that’s titled, “How the U.S. election outcome could affect Canada’s environment and energy future” if anyone wants to discuss this topic.
The IEA report published on Tuesday
says almost 90% of new electricity generation in 2020 will be renewable,
with just 10% powered by gas and coal. The trend puts green electricity
on track to become the largest power source in 2025, displacing coal,
which has dominated for the past 50 years.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government has been working to stimulate the economy while also tying these efforts to its climate ambitions. One province that can particularly benefit from such investments is Alberta. There is a significant economic opportunity to be unlocked by enabling renewables at a faster pace than business-as-usual in Alberta, by way of investment, jobs and affordable electricity.
Alberta, alongside Saskatchewan, boasts the best solar and wind resources in Canada. A recent forecast by Rystad Energy anticipates Alberta’s utility scale solar and wind capacity could be the highest in Canada by 2025.
The Business Renewable Centre Canada — which facilitates corporate procurement of renewable energy between buyers and sellers in Alberta — aims to achieve 2 gigawatts of renewable energy deals by 2025, which would attract $4 billion of investment to the province. Several major commercial buyers, including Starbucks, Labatt, Marriott Hotel, and Telus, have shown interest.
These renewable energy projects not only catch investors’ attention, they also help support community economic development. They can provide a reliable source of revenue to local governments and landowners, create local employment, and advance community development goals, including contributions to local economic diversification. Assorted compensation and ownership models exist that can be designed to enhance shared benefits from renewable energy development.
A group of big, institutional investors with a combined US$41 trillion under management is turning up the heat on 161 fossils, mining companies, and other major emitters, demanding that they adopt a set of strategies to reach net-zero emissions and pledging to hold them to account for their actions.
“The targeted companies are responsible for up to 80% of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions,” The Guardian reports, citing an announcement Monday by the Climate Action 100+ initiative. “They include mining giant BHP, which last week promised to reduce emissions from its operations by 30% over the next decade on a path to net zero by 2050 after sustained pressure from activist shareholder groups.”
The list also includes colossal fossils ExxonMobil, PetroChina, BP, and Royal Dutch Shell, mining and metals companies Rio Tinto and BlueScope Steel, and major Australian fossil and electricity companies AGL, Santos, Woodside, and Origin.
Are Albertans Victimized or Angry?
Tristin Hopper wrote in the National Post that if Canada doesn’t like Alberta complaining, they can always send back our money. He says we are getting fleeced by Ottawa. This article was written on April 11th. Perhaps he wrote that before he had a chance to see how much Trudeau was doing for the province. Maybe he assumed he was doing as little as Premier Jason Kenney. Either way, there isn’t any way to establish this tiresome rhetoric as belonging to anything other than a Postmedia newspaper.
Mr. Kenny’s notion that Alberta is paying Quebec’s bills simply isn’t true. Mr. Hopper crunches the numbers for us in the article expecting us to believe it. Still, there are three kinds of lies which are just as prevalent today as the first time I heard them. There are lies, damned lies and statistics.
Do you think the provincial government is trying to keep us off-balance?
We’re witnessing the slow, painful death of fossil fuels. Milestones reached by other countries leave Canada as one of the last Western democracies with no coherent plan to cut ties with the industries that brought us a mounting global climate emergency.
There has been a stampede in Alberta. No, not cow — oil companies getting out while they still can. All of them weren’t so lucky though. Some didn’t have the money or resources. They died right where they lived.
A plan to make CF Industries carbon neutral and a major supplier of hydrogen fuel could lead to new investment in the company’s Medicine Hat ammonia facility.
The pivot could make the Medicine Hat ammonia complex a key point in accessing the pacific marketplace.
“Today’s commitment to decarbonize the world’s ammonia production network positions CF Industries at the forefront of clean hydrogen supply,” said CF president Tony Will in a statement.
The company will spend US$400 million immediately to build a green hydrogen facility at a U.S. plant site.
The hydrogen effort is based on outlook for growing demand as a replacement fuel. When burned, hydrogen produces oxygen and water, and demand could rise 600 per cent over the next 10 years according to some analysts.
