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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.
The groundhogs might have predicted an early spring, but there is still more winter to come. Take advantage of the cold weather while you can and find a forest skating trail near you.
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
Noteworthy reporting this week:
- Sustainability: UN report aims to map out ways to make business and biodiversity both sustainable
- Study: Canada not on track to meet any climate targets, study finds
- Nuclear energy: Will soaring electricity rates kill Ontario’s nuclear expansion?
- Development: Vancouver residents push back on plan they say will obscure rare mountain view
- Car review: Which EVs work best and worst during a Canadian winter?
- Food and drink: As temperatures rise and rainfall declines, this award-winning viticulturalist is embracing change
A deeper dive
U.S. President Donald Trump, joined by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, makes an announcement at the White House last week.SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
Trump’s rollback
For this week’s deeper dive, a closer look at the Trump administration’s rollbacks on climate regulations.
In the past week, the Trump administration revoked a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and to fight climate change.
In 2009, a government declaration known as the “endangerment finding” determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. The Obama-era finding is the legal underpinning of nearly all climate regulations under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources that are heating the planet.
The Environmental Protection Agency rescinded this rule. The repeal eliminates all greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks and could unleash a broader undoing of climate regulations, experts say.
U.S. President Donald Trump called the endangerment finding “one of the greatest scams in history,” claiming falsely that it “had no basis in fact” or law.
The Mill Creek Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant in Louisville, Ky., is pictured on Saturday.Jon Cherry/Getty Images
Environmental groups said the plan would keep polluting, gas-burning cars and trucks on U.S. roads for years to come, threatening the health of millions of Americans, particularly children and the elderly.
But EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, a former Republican congressman who was tapped by Trump to lead the agency last year, has criticized his predecessors in Democratic administrations, saying that they were “willing to bankrupt the country” in the name of tackling climate change.
John Rapley, contributing columnist for The Globe and Mail, wrote about the price of this move – and why it was a sure vote-winner.
Rapley notes that in Trump’s campaign, he offered something for everyone in reversing the climate initiatives of previous administrations: Fossil fuel companies got favourable policies and consumers were promised cheap gas and cars.
“All told, in his determination to deliver immediate benefits to his followers by scrapping environmental initiatives, Mr. Trump is creating added costs for them. This could turn into a major political headache for him.”
While his climate denialism is so far benefiting his rich backers, his mass base hasn’t been seeing the savings.
“To paraphrase Trotsky, we may not be interested in climate change, but climate change won’t allow us to escape its net. If we don’t pay the price of arresting it now, we’ll get the bill in due course – and the sticker shock could end political careers.”
So, Rapley asks: What will finally bring down Donald Trump? Maybe it’s climate change.
What else you missed
- Industrial real estate embraces sustainable design
- Copenhagen Fashion Week celebrates 20 years of sustainable and accessible fashion
- Inside King City’s Koffler Scientific Reserve, built in the service of ecology
Opinion and analysis
What’s the future of electric vehicles when even Elon Musk wants out?
Without him, or even with less focus from him, will EVs thrive on a wave of Chinese-made products or become a footnote in automotive history?
— Gus Carlson, U.S.-based columnist
Business and investing
Investors commit $5-billion to Farm Credit Canada
Farm Credit Canada, a Crown corporation that finances agricultural operations, has landed $5-billion in investor commitments for farming and food innovation over the next four years.
FCC has convened a coalition of more than 20 investment organizations, including venture capital, private equity and Royal Bank of Canada. It will connect these investors to opportunities in land acquisition, manufacturing and new ag-tech startups, among other projects.
Also read
- Ottawa plans to add 8,000 charging ports as part of wider EV infrastructure investments
- Natural Resources Minister heads to Poland to promote Canada’s nuclear energy expertise
- Home insurers raise prices, rein in coverage in response to worsening weather events
Photo of the week
A shepherd stands among his sheep on the hill of Tourkovounia in Athens on Sunday as southerly winds carry waves of Saharan dust.ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP/Getty Images
Guides and Explainers
- We’ve rounded up our reporters’ content to help you learn about what a carbon tax is, what happened at COP29 and just generally how Canada will change because of climate change.
- We have ways to make your travelling more sustainable and if you like to read, here are books to help the environmentalist in you grow, as well as a downloadable e-book of Micro Skills - Little Steps to Big Change.
Catch up on Globe Climate
- A new strategy on EVs
- The toxic price of copper
- Historic renovation at Kew Gardens
- The environmental cost of winter road salt