Tag Archives: Climate Change

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Canada not on pace to meet target to cut methane emissions by 2025

Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson is open to imposing tougher regulations to curb methane emissions from the oil and gas sector if that is required to hit a 2025 target to cut them by almost half, his staff said Friday.

Canada set a goal in 2016 to cut methane emissions by 40 to 45 per cent in 2025 compared to what they were in 2012. A new report from the Pembina Institute and Environmental Defence says the regulations in place now for methane will only achieve a 29 per cent cut by 2025.

“They’re not on track to meet the target,” said Jan Gorski, a senior analyst at the Pembina Institute.

A statement released through Wilkinson’s office did not question the analysis, saying only that the federal government is “committed” to hitting the promised target.

September 8, 2020

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Government of Canada invests in Alberta’s construction industry to help strengthen energy efficiency and green building practices

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Photo by Mutia Rahmah on Unsplash

The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD), today announced federal funding of $3 million to help Alberta’s construction and engineering industry innovate and grow. This investment from Western Economic Diversification Canada will help small and medium-sized businesses adopt new products and technologies that improve the energy efficiency of buildings and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This funding will be directed towards an Alberta-based not-for-profit organization—the Smart Sustainable Resilient Infrastructure Association (SSRIA)—to establish a network of test buildings where firms can collaborate and test their products under different conditions. WD funding is complemented by an investment of more than $2.8 million from Alberta Innovates, in-kind support from industry and $165,000 from the SSRIA, bringing the total project funding to over $6.3 million.

Products and services expected to be commercialized through this initiative include:

materials for walls, roofs and foundations;
mechanical and electrical system improvements;
sensors and lighting products that reduce energy consumption; and
software for storing and analyzing building performance on energy efficiency and greenhouse gases.

Today’s announcement further supports the construction industry’s shift towards energy efficient and environmentally-friendly practices. In addition to benefiting from new products and services to meet their needs, Alberta’s broader architecture, engineering, and construction industry will also reap the benefits of this important initiative.

Source: Government of Canada invests in Alberta’s construction industry to help strengthen energy efficiency and green building practices – Canada.ca

This entry was posted in General and tagged alberta, Climate Change, green projects, politics, recovery on September 8, 2020 by Steve.

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Small Minded Government To Use Hydrogen To Power Oilsands

I didn’t think the Alberta government was interested in hydrogen. But… they are….

There is a 100 megatonne annual limit on provincial carbon emissions. In the oil industry, emissions are produced mainly from extraction, transporation and production. Rather than turning Alberta into a world leader in the production and distribution of hydrogen, Alberta will use hydrogen to reduce emissions and increase oil production.

According to a news article, “Alberta will announce, no later than October, a strategy to develop “blue hydrogen” as a cleaner alternative to using natural gas to extract crude at steam-driven oil sands sites, Associate Minister of Natural Gas Dale Nally told Reuters in an interview.

September 4, 2020

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Without federal action, Canada will miss easiest, cheapest opportunity to reduce climate emissions

Reducing methane emissions is a key element of the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change. Government documents show that Canada already has a significant gap (77 million tonnes of GHGs ) to achieve its Paris Agreement commitment.

Canada’s climate policy commits to strengthening 2030 emission targets and working towards net-zero emissions by 2050. While correcting course to meet the 2025 target, there is also an opportunity to plan for a more ambitious 2030 target. But Canada cannot achieve any of these goals without stronger methane emission regulations that take into account this new evidence.

September 4, 2020

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Freeland, Carney May Be Canada’s Last, Best Chance for a Green Recovery

In mid-July, Democratic nominee Joe Biden added a US$2-trillion climate plan to his campaign platform. And on August 11, Biden named
a running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris, who’d proposed a
$10-trillion climate plan and boasts a strong record for promoting
environmental justice and prosecuting rogue fossil fuel companies.

Those milestones 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. It’s a position that is helping to shatter Alberta’s fossil fuel-dependent economy, as oil and gas investment declines and jobs evaporate. It will cost Canadians millions of well-paid jobs in every part of the country, as a rapid transition away from carbon picks up speed just about everywhere else.

“If we’re caught flat-footed by a Biden victory, we may
watch as entire sectors of our growing clean energy and cleantech
sectors pack up and move to greener pastures in the U.S.,” Environmental
Defence Executive Director Tim Gray warned
in an early August blog post. “Or they may just wither as they fail to
secure the government support needed to commercialize innovations.”