By: Anna Hardie In March 2022, the Government of Canada released its 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan, a report outlining Canada’s next steps for meeting annual emission reduction targets towards 2030. In order to reach 2030 reduction targets, emissions are broken down annually across eight economic sectors including oil and gas, transportation, heavy industry, and buildings….
Category: Environment
Tackling Inequities in Efforts to Achieve a Low-Carbon Economy
By: Madeleine Whitestone The enormity of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP27, reflected the increasing political appetite for carbon neutrality. As of today, 196 countries have signed on to the 2016 Paris Agreement, committing to some form of reduction in carbon emissions. Under the agreement, participating countries committed to successive nationally determined…
It’s not Easy Being Green: Germany’s energy woes are rooted in its net-zero decision to abandon nuclear
By: Nicholas Johnstone The lights have been turned off at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. In normal times, this iconic monument and tourist attraction is spectacularly lit up at night; however, it is now a dark symbol of the energy crisis that Germany and other European nations are currently facing. As of September, a number…
Plastic Waste: Driving a Circular Economy
By: Lisa Alers-Hankey In today’s global economy an estimated 95 percent of the material value of plastics is lost after single-use, amounting to a value between $100-150 billion dollars annually. The Canadian economy only recycles nine percent of plastics, leading to vast amounts of economic value being lost to landfills. Furthermore, the production and end-of-life care of…
The Effectiveness of Fossil Fuel Divestment: A Historical Analysis
By: Anna Hardie On October 27 2022, University of Toronto announced its commitment to divest from all direct and indirect fossil fuel investments by 2030. Since 2017, ten Canadian universities have committed to divesting from fossil fuels with 40% of these divestment announcements made in just this past year. The increased momentum in calling for academic institutions to divest…
Is Canada Phasing Out Fossil Fuel Subsidies?
By: Anna Hardie According to BloombergNEF, between 2015-2019 Canada increased fossil fuel support by 40%. These funds havegone on to support pipelines such as the Trans Mountain pipeline, Keystone Pipeline, and Coastal GasLink. Yet, Canada is also obligated under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act to have a Net-Zero economy by 2050. Further, Canada has made a promise to phase out all inefficient…
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