Tag Archives: IPCC

Cost of Climate Change

Fed’s cuts to climate research travel funds ‘mind boggling,’ May says

Leave a comment

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 

The federal government’s decision to stop funding travel for Canadian scientists contributing to international climate change research is “absolutely appalling,” Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) relies on scientists and experts across the world (including Canada) to produce in-depth reports assessing the causes, impacts and possible solutions to climate change. This body of work guides international climate negotiations.

“The IPCC reports and the IPCC itself represents the largest peer review process in the history of science,” May, who is co-leader of the Greens with Jonathan Pedneault, said in a phone interview with Canada’s National Observer.

Continue reading Fed’s cuts to climate research travel funds ‘mind boggling,’ May says →
Energy

Pembina Institute: Why Canada Needs An Emissions Cap for the Oil and Gas Sector

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, the oil and gas sector is a major contributor to Canada’s economy, employing 182,000 people and generating $209 billion in GDP during 2023, yet it is also the source of 31% of Canada’’s Greenhouse gas emissions.

 “Demand for oil and gas is not going to go to zero tomorrow.  It is a transition that takes decades  to undergo.  There will be a role for oil and gas as we move forward along that transition, but it is likely to be a  cleaner oil and gas sector as the rest of the world stops buying  the oil and gas products that Canada and other countries produce. Which, I think, really underlines the importance of investing in decarbonization now while we’re still using oil and gas  to 2050 and a little bit beyond  if we get on a net zero trajectory,” explained Janetta McKenzie  from the Pembina Institute, a Canadian think tank and non-profit focused on energy. 

Continue reading Pembina Institute: Why Canada Needs An Emissions Cap for the Oil and Gas Sector →
Politics

BC Conservatives pitch a carbon tax on US coal as a trade-war measure

By Sonal Gupta, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

British Columbia Opposition Leader John Rustad floated the idea on Monday of imposing a carbon tax on American thermal coal exported through B.C. ports, in response to the U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber. While some climate activists fighting coal exports say this would lead to positive results by increasing the price of a dirty fuel, they argue the most effective action would be to ban exports altogether to tackle the climate crisis. 

Continue reading BC Conservatives pitch a carbon tax on US coal as a trade-war measure →
Cost of Climate Change

On the Threshold of a 1.5°C World

While there is some disagreement as to whether we have crossed the 1.5°C threshhold set at COP 21 in Paris, scientists agree that we are on the brink and 2024 was the hottest year on record.

At COP 29 last November, Jim Skea, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) explained, “Children born today will not know a world without climate change. The IPCC has shown that we, and furthermore they, will live in a world marked by more intense storms, exceptional heatwaves, devastating floods and droughts, a world where food chains are disrupted, and where diseases reach new countries.”

Continue reading On the Threshold of a 1.5°C World →
Cost of Climate Change

BC’s Productivity Emergency vs Rising GHG Emissions

1 Comment

With the rise of global temperatures already at 1.4°C, we are currently on track to reach 2.8°C by the end of this century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) claims, “every additional 0.1°C of global warming causes clearly discernible increases in the intensity and frequency of temperature and precipitation extremes, as well as agricultural and ecological droughts in some regions.” 

Denise Mullen, from the Business Council of BC, recently informed the SRD’s Natural Resources Committee that the province faces a more urgent problem. British Columbia is in the midst of a productivity emergency. 

Continue reading BC’s Productivity Emergency vs Rising GHG Emissions →