In an article on The Conversation website, H. Damon Matthews, Professor and Climate Scientist, Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, Concordia University, explains that while Canada is warming rapidly, crossing 1.5°C does not mean climate action has failed or become pointless. Every additional fraction of a degree matters, and adaptation cannot substitute for emissions reductions. … Continue reading Canada faces 5°C of warming by the end of the century – unless the world changes course
Category: national policies
Germany’s answer to energy insecurity: phase out fossil fuels
In an article on the Deutsche Welle website, Rana Taha explains that Germany has said it plans to phase out the use of coal, oil and gas by 2045, reaffirming a climate strategy focused on electrification. The Iran war and disruption around the Strait of Hormuz turn what might otherwise sound like a purely climate-policy … Continue reading Germany’s answer to energy insecurity: phase out fossil fuels
When net zero becomes a political dividing line
In the UK, the opposition leader Kemi Badenoch’s decision to abandon cross-party consensus on climate change and the need to meet net zero targets may win her plaudits from some right-wing commentators, but places her in opposition to popular opinion and the scientific world. The debate taking place in Britain has significance far beyond the … Continue reading When net zero becomes a political dividing line
Trump clears the way for a new US coal boom
Mahima Kapoor writes on the Deutsche Welle website about how the EPA has repealed most of the 2024 power-plant carbon standards and is proposing to eliminate the remaining greenhouse-gas standards for the sector. The Environmental Protection Agency said it was repealing Biden-era limits on emissions made by power plants, in the "largest power sector deregulation … Continue reading Trump clears the way for a new US coal boom
Preparing before the crisis: lessons from Finland
Writing on the Le Monde website, Anne-Françoise Hivert provides us with an important story about resilience and preparedness. Distributed across the country, Finland's reserves – along its 1,340 kilometres of border with Russia – cover nine months of grain consumption and five months of its oil and gas needs. The system has emerged as a … Continue reading Preparing before the crisis: lessons from Finland
Climate targets without a plan? Canada heads to court
The federal government argues courts should not direct climate policy but, as David Thurton writes on the CBC News website, questions whether Canada’s climate accountability law actually obliges the government to keep its climate plan capable of meeting its own targets—or merely gives ministers discretion to change it. The government’s reliance on the single word … Continue reading Climate targets without a plan? Canada heads to court
The hidden carbon cost of choosing a home
In an article on The Conversation website, Burak Gunay, Liam O’Brien and Pedram Nojedehi from Carleton University and Brodie Hobson from Natural Resources Canada Associate Professor in Building Engineering, Carleton University discuss how Canadian homebuyers are making major financial and environmental decisions without being given the information needed to understand a home's energy and carbon … Continue reading The hidden carbon cost of choosing a home
The solar technology South Africa can’t afford to ignore
Writing on The Conversation website, Craig McGregor, Professor in Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, Stellenbosch University, discusses how South Africa may be undervaluing a technology particularly well suited to its climate because energy planning focuses too heavily on the cost of generation rather than the value of reliable, dispatchable power. South Africa is overlooking solar … Continue reading The solar technology South Africa can’t afford to ignore
The hidden crisis Britain’s Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary must confront
The new Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary has signalled her support for tackling fuel poverty, but she's inherited a Warm Homes Plan that is yet to be finalised and, as Andrew Warren warns in an article on the Business Green website, energy efficiency jobs are being lost as the wait to fill the policy … Continue reading The hidden crisis Britain’s Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary must confront
The demand-side blindness at the heart of UK energy policy
The debate over the UK's energy future is still overwhelmingly focused on how to generate more power, while far less attention is paid to the cheapest and fastest energy resource of all: using less. In this commentary, the environmentalist Sir Jonathon Porritt argues that this imbalance is not accidental but reflects decades of political choices … Continue reading The demand-side blindness at the heart of UK energy policy
