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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.
Tomorrow is budget day, and Prime Minister Mark Carney will be trying to balance the numbers during a trade war with the United States. How will that change his approach to climate change – an issue he was once so loud and proud about?
We’ll be taking a closer look at that in today’s deep dive.
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
Noteworthy reporting this week:
- Finance: Insufficient disclosure obscuring billions in Alberta oil sands liabilities, advocates say
- Oil and gas: Climate activists say B.C. needs to conduct new assessment for natural gas pipeline
- Mining: G7 pact pledges funds for Quebec, Ontario critical minerals projects
- Pipelines: Ontario launches study on viability of East-West pipeline, energy corridor
- Agriculture: U.S. agricultural export data blackout hits grain trade in Canada
- Food and drink: Rising temperatures in Bordeaux usher in a golden age for cabernet sauvignon
- History: ‘Frosty’ the rhino was a hairy tale, they say – roaming warmer climes of ancient times in an unexpected way
- Science: University of Alberta’s David Wishart wins top Canadian science prize
- Listen: Whales, extinction and the sounds of underwater noise pollution
A deeper dive
The foothills of the Rocky Mountains, north of Calgary in 2021. The federal government's budget will end a program that pledged to plant two billion trees by 2031.AMBER BRACKEN/The Canadian Press
The climate-change vision is fuzzy
For this week’s deeper dive, some prebudget thoughts before the document is tabled tomorrow.
This past week, political columnist Campbell Clark asked: Can Carney’s climate plan keep his grand bargain alive? The bargain in question is an attempt to satisfy both real climate action as well as oil and gas development.
That’s part of what we’ll be watching for in the Prime Minister’s “climate competitiveness strategy,” which will be folded into the Nov. 4 federal budget.
This strategy was supposed to be announced last month. Campbell says this suggests it will be a slimmed-down statement within the budget and “unlikely to be a plan that pleases climate activists.”
And we’re already getting hints of that. According to a senior government official, the savings plan includes scrapping a program to plant two billion trees by 2031.
The official said contracts are in place to plant nearly one billion trees. Those contracts will be honoured, but the remaining funds will be reallocated to “more effective” climate and clean-growth programs. The official did not say exactly how much would be saved by ending the program.
Meanwhile, Carney’s comments about cutting red tape and embracing Canada’s position as an “energy superpower” have been well received from Bay Street to Calgary.
But economists say that what Ottawa does with corporate taxation, environmental regulation and various industrial policy tools could have a bigger impact on investment than anything announced to date.
Clean electricity regulations and the place of natural gas in the country’s sustainable investing taxonomy could be up for changes. Ottawa could scrap the oil and gas emissions cap altogether. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in particular is hopeful that Carney will support plans for a new oil pipeline (if the industry backs carbon-reduction initiatives).
Adam Radwanski wrote about Carney’s climate vision and tried to better understand the meaning of “climate competitiveness.” (We also took a closer look in this newsletter last month).
He writes that it appears to be twofold. On one hand, it refers to getting existing Canadian industries to offer relatively low-carbon versions of their products. As mentioned, that includes the fossil-fuel sector. The other meaning is competing in growing low-carbon sectors, such as the electric-vehicle battery supply chain, non-emitting electricity, mass timber and early stage clean technologies.
The full details will be available tomorrow afternoon, when the budget is officially tabled. But reading the room so far, it seems there will be compromise when it comes to climate.
What else you missed
- About 1,400 annual deaths linked to wildfire smoke in Canada, report says
- Hurricane Melissa kills at least 25 in Haiti, leaves path of destruction in Jamaica and Cuba
- I came face-to-face with one of my biggest fears on a hike in the B.C. Rockies
Opinion and analysis
What happens when the well runs dry? After months of drought, Nova Scotians are finding out
Unfortunately, because our governments refuse to stop the extraction and use of fossil fuels, climate change will continue, and this won’t be the last time wells in Nova Scotia run dry.
— Barry Rueger
Green Investing
Europe’s biggest asset manager joins Canadian investor climate coalition
Top European asset manager Amundi SA has joined a coalition of institutional investors that is pushing Canadian companies for better climate-related disclosure and tougher targets, showing the group is making strides while other global efforts are losing members or shutting down.
Climate Engagement Canada – an industry-led initiative focused on decarbonizing the country’s industries – now has 43 Canadian members and 18 international participants, representing total assets under management of $14.5-trillion. The group was founded in 2021 with 27 investor-members.
Photo of the week
Indigenous activists navigate the Nanay River in Iquitos, Peru, on Oct. 20 as part of the Yaku Mama (Water Mother) flotilla, a 3,000-kilometre journey through the Amazon basin to COP30 to demand a role in global climate decision-making. The climate summit will take place Nov 10 to 21 in Belem, Brazil.Karen Toro/Reuters
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
- How to name a whale
- A showcase of wildlife images
- Carney’s climate vision
- Lessons from wildfire survivors
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