Globe Climate: Carney’s climate vision

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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.

The short list for 2025’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year is a menagerie of wonders. Out of the 100 images, a jury will pick 19 category winners to be named later today at the Natural History Museum in London.

The images will also be at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum starting Nov. 8. For now, enjoy some of the highlights. We’ll share the winning images in next week’s newsletter.

Now, let’s catch you up on other news.

Noteworthy reporting this week:

1. Agriculture: It’s crunch time in New Brunswick’s potato country after a dry, difficult season
2. Pollution: Federal agency failed to track ‘forever chemicals’ in Newfoundland town’s water, residents say
3. In memory: Globe readers remember Jane Goodall and the power of kindness
4. Indigenous relations: Alberta’s pipeline pursuit could erode Indigenous support for infrastructure projects, B.C. First Nations leader says
5. Technology: Deep Sky unveils plans for one of the world’s biggest direct air carbon capture facilities in Manitoba
6. Wildfires: Canada is considering a national wildfire agency. This expert says it should focus elsewhere
7. Wildlife: Canada imported nearly 1,800 endangered wild-caught monkeys for research, sparking calls for a ban
8. Funding: RBC pledges $5-million to university agriculture initiative

A deeper dive

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Green policies turn red and white

For this week’s deeper dive, a closer look at expectations from Ottawa’s coming climate strategy announcement.

While Ottawa prepares to lay out a new climate-change vision, the global trade wars appear to be influencing Canada’s approach to environmental and energy issues.

Before the end of this month, the federal government is aiming to release a “climate competitiveness strategy.” It’s been a subject of speculation since Prime Minister Mark Carney promised it in early September with little explanation.

Policy columnist and feature writer Adam Radwanski writes an in-depth analysis on what to expect, but in the newsletter, we’ll go over some basics.

The plan will deprioritize Canada’s commitments to reducing domestic greenhouse gas emissions in favour of focusing on ways to reap economic advantage from the global transition toward low-carbon energy.

And just what is “climate competitiveness”? According to Adam, it broadly appears to be twofold. One meaning refers to getting existing Canadian industries to offer relatively low-carbon versions of their products, which other markets may increasingly value. The other meaning is to compete in growing low-carbon sectors, such as the electric-vehicle battery supply chain.

The subtext: Despite the American government retreating from climate action, the energy transition is continuing apace globally, and Canada needs to stay afloat.

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All eyes are on the balancing efforts to appease oil-and-gas-reliant provinces. Particularly, the concessions that Alberta is seeking, including dropping the ban on large oil tankers on B.C.’s northern coast.

Other things to expect, Adam says, is that the strategy will recommit to carbon pricing for heavy industrial emitters. On electricity policy, most public attention will probably be paid to whether Carney recommits to the federal Clean Electricity Regulations.

It gets harder to find a competitiveness angle with something such as supporting heat pumps, which make home energy use more efficient. But as Adam points out, it’s in Carney’s interest to draw the connection wherever possible, if he wants support.

Also read

• Opinion: Climate action must be integral to Carney’s pro-growth agenda. Does Carney agree?
• Gary Mason: In the national pipeline debate, hypocrisy knows no bounds
• ICYMI: Carney-championed Net-Zero Banking Alliance shuts down after losing most of its members

What else you missed

• Genetic study shines light on Toronto’s ancient ‘subway deer’
• Renewables generate more power globally than coal for the first time: report

Opinion and analysis

Eric Reguly: Artificial intelligence – the good, the bad and the ugly environmental costs

Andrew Coyne: Danielle Smith’s pipeline ransom note to Mark Carney is using Canada as her hostage

Green Investing

Brookfield’s $20-billion transition fund shows investor confidence in clean energy

Investors have committed US$20-billion to the second iteration of Brookfield Asset Management Ltd.’s Global Transition Fund, making it the world’s largest private fund dedicated to the transition to clean energy, the company said last week.

The windfall exceeded Brookfield’s own target, and underscores just how much money is being spent around the world to accelerate the shift to a net-zero carbon economy.

Not green:

• South Bow explores increasing crude exports after Carney raises Keystone XL revival with Trump
• LNG Canada prepares to start second processing unit in B.C.

The Climate Exchange

We’ve launched The Climate Exchange, an interactive, digital hub where The Globe answers your most pressing questions about climate change. We have been collecting hundreds of questions and posing them to experts. The answers can be found with the help of a search tool developed by The Globe that makes use of artificial intelligence to match readers’ questions with the closest answer drafted. You can ask a question using this form.

Photo of the week

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Guides and Explainers

• Want to learn to invest sustainably? We have a class for that: Green Investing 101 newsletter course for the climate-conscious investor. Not sure you need help? Take our quiz to challenge your knowledge.
• 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

• Lessons from wildfire survivors
• How one activist found compassion in jail
• PFAS in the water
• Wildfire ash speeds up glacier melt

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