This is the first instalment in a series of excerpts from Gordon Laxer's new report, "Posing as Canadian: How Big Foreign Oil captures energy and climate policy" — co-published by the Council of Canadians, CCPA BC, and CCPA SaskatchewanAlberta’s recent public inquiry into “anti-Alberta energy campaigns” targeted a molehill and missed the Rockies.
Energy policy
Ottawa – A new report by the Council of Canadians and the BC and Saskatchewan offices of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives exposes the far-reaching power of large multinational foreign oil companies in shaping climate and energy policy in Canada.
The oil and gas industry is a marginal player in BC’s overall economy, yet has far-reaching environmental impacts, is inconsistent with global climate action, and undermines First Nations’ rights and title. And yet, since BC started to implement climate action targets and policies in 2007, gas production has doubled.
Two of Canada’s biggest public pension plans could lead the way toward a global transition to a greener, more sustainable economy, but their commitments to climate action may be more talk than walk. The Canada Pension Plan and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec say they are serious about tackling climate change, however, they continue to bank on fossil fuels, this Corporate Mapping Project report shows.
From unprecedented droughts to deadly heat waves, climate change is making the present—and all of our futures—less secure. The dream of a tranquil retirement is already being interrupted by nightmares such as the wildfires raging across BC and Alberta this summer.
VANCOUVER — The world’s leading authority on climate change says we are headed for catastrophe unless emissions are slashed quickly. Yet, two of Canada’s biggest public pension plans are still banking on fossil fuels, a new Corporate Mapping Project report shows.
Reducing emissions to zero is a clear concept, but “net zero” muddies the waters in that some greenhouse gas or carbon emissions are permitted as long as they are balanced by “negative emissions” or carbon removals through nature or engineered solutions.
VANCOUVER - Increasingly, government and industry talk about “net zero” when it comes to emissions reduction targets. But what does this really mean?
Since the first oil well was drilled in 1859 humans have been on a roll. Global population has increased more than six-fold and energy use per capita has grown more than nine-fold. Accompanying this explosive growth in energy use was unprecedented economic expansion— since 1965 global GDP has grown 6.8-fold and per capita GDP has increased 2.9 times adjusted for inflation.
Unfortunately, there is no free lunch.
This report by veteran earth scientist David Hughes analyzes the state of the oil and gas sector in Canada and finds that while production is increasing, jobs and revenues paid to government are decreasing.