Climate change & energy policy

Carbon pricing: Prospects and protests

Feb 11, 2019
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The federal government’s plan to put a price on carbon is set to be a top issue heading into October’s federal election. The carbon pricing backstop—which lets provinces and territories implement their own plans but imposes a minimum carbon tax on those who do not—has drawn the ire of provincial governments in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan… View Article

Expand climate action initiatives to reflect the urgency of the crisis

Feb 1, 2019
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This post is part of our BC Budget 2019 series, which highlights key findings from the CCPA’s research and outlines our recommendations for the 2019 provincial budget. Find more from the series at: policynote.ca/budget2019 The provincial government announced its new CleanBC climate plan in December and BC Budget 2019 provides an opportunity to deliver on… View Article

Our BC Budget 2019 priorities: Poverty reduction and climate action

Jan 8, 2019
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In anticipation of the 2019 BC Budget—which the provincial government will present in February—the CCPA-BC is publishing a series of Policy Note posts highlighting the recommendations from our submission to the Budget Consultations. Those recommendations include ideas for improving BC’s health care, education, transit, child care and much more. Today, I kick off the series… View Article

BC’s shiny new climate plan: A look under the hood

Dec 17, 2018
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BC’s new climate plan, Clean BC, is a big and visionary document and was instantly lauded by environmental groups and businesses alike. In this post, I recap the key components of the plan and do a bit of a reality check against the hype, in particular the challenge of fitting liquefied natural gas (LNG) into… View Article

How fast can we get to 100% renewables?

Nov 7, 2018
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This piece draws on research and a presentation in Vancouver by Mark Jacobson from Stanford University, who delivered the 2018 Gideon Rosenbluth Memorial Lecture. You can listen to the audio or watch a recording of the live video stream below, and you can download Mark’s slides here (PDF). It is well established that we need… View Article
Image: The massive Sunrise Plant, the largest gas plant built in Western Canada in 30 years, sits on farmland near Dawson Creek. It was one of three gas plants in a row exempted from provincial environmental assessments. © Garth Lenz

Shielding fossil fuel corporations from public scrutiny: The new “neutral”?

Oct 31, 2018
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British Columbia’s Environmental Assessment Office bills itself as a “neutral” provincial agency. But there is evidence that this is not the case, and that BC Environment Minister George Heyman — who is tasked with “revitalizing” the province’s environmental assessment law — needs to make serious reforms. When a public regulator makes major decisions behind closed… View Article
Photo: © Garth Lenz

Who owns and benefits from Canada’s fossil fuel sector?

Oct 23, 2018
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Many Canadians—politicians and business people in particular—are quick to tout the value of the fossil fuel sector to our national economy. But who primarily benefits from these industries? The major investors in Canada’s fossil fuel sector (oil, bitumen, gas and coal) have high stakes in maintaining business as usual, rather than addressing the industry’s serious… View Article

LNG Canada: Short-term politics trumps long-term climate responsibility

Oct 4, 2018
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LNG Canada’s final investment decision to build a natural gas liquefaction facility in Kitimat is a triumph of short-term politics over long-term responsibility to act on climate change. Exaggerated numbers have been used to sell the project to the public, while risks have been downplayed. The politics of liquefied natural gas (LNG) have a certain logic… View Article