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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.
Canadians were not happy campers this past week. And it wasn’t because of the weather.
Social-media users were sharing screenshots that showed provincial parks described on Google Maps as “state” parks, which hit a sore spot at a time of heightened tension with the United States.
B.C. Environment Minister Tamara Davidson said the provincial government reached out to Google Canada requesting that “provincial park” be added as an option. The search engine then made the update. “And let’s be clear, we will never be the 51 state,” she added.
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
Noteworthy reporting this week:
- Investing: Pension giant Caisse strikes deal to acquire Innergex Renewable Energy
- Research: U.S. research funding cuts change landscape for Canadian universities, researchers
- Land: B.C. government announces First Nations land pact on Sunshine Coast, months after deal was inked
- Development: Last piece of undeveloped Vancouver waterfront gets new plan
- Safety: What it takes to keep backcountry skiers safe in B.C.’s avalanche territory
- Machines like us Podcast: There’s a way to cool the planet. Scientists are terrified of it
- Analysis from The Narwhal: What Doug Ford’s third win means for the environment and Ontario politics
A deeper dive
Meet the Changemakers
For this week’s deeper dive, we pull excerpts from Report on Business Magazine’s changemakers.
It’s that time of year: our annual Changemakers list.
ROB Magazine puts out the call for leaders who are reinventing how Canada does business. The ask? Young entrepreneurs, academics, activists and other professionals devoted to making the world a better place.
Let’s add a little inspiration to your day.
Sasha LuccioniGuillaume Simoneau/The Globe and Mail
Sasha Luccioni, AI researcher with Hugging Face
Luccioni came across an academic study in 2019 that changed the course of her research. She was completing a post-doc at the Mila AI Institute in Montreal when she read a paper from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, that estimated the carbon footprint of training different AI models.
In February, Luccioni – as the AI and climate lead at New York machine learning company Hugging Face – launched a program to score AI models based on energy efficiency. The idea was inspired by the Energy Star ratings developed by the Environmental Protection Agency to designate energy-efficient products, such as TVs, fridges and lightbulbs. A similar system for AI would bring about more transparency – companies are reluctant to release many details about their models – and allow users to make informed choices.
Julie Segal, senior program manager, climate finance, at Environmental Defence in Montreal
Segal’s role at the advocacy organization Environmental Defence is to advance climate-related financial policy and regulation – a job that just got a whole lot harder under Trump 2.0.
Just 29, she’s advised on the Climate-Aligned Finance Act in the Canadian Senate, appeared numerous times at the standing committee on the environment and sustainable development in Ottawa, and has presented at conferences worldwide, including the OECD’s 2024 Forum on Green Finance and Investment. She’s also had high-level meetings with most of Canada’s major federal parties – a rare thing for an environmental NGO – to speak about climate change’s impact on the financial system, “both in terms of how finance works and how finance is at risk because of it, and to convey to them some truths that were tough to swallow,” says Keith Brooks, Environmental Defence’s programs director. “Julie did a lot of work to frame this up as a missing piece of Canada’s climate plan and to push for commitments.”
Orlane PanetKristine Nyborg/The Globe and Mail
Orlane Panet, co-founder of MicroHabitat in Montreal
It’s not often that corporate sustainability projects extend beyond ambitious declarations about carbon neutrality on company websites and into the tangible world. But Orlane Panet, the Montreal-based co-founder of MicroHabitat, is spreading a service that allows her clients to get their hands dirty – and fill their bellies, too.
MicroHabitat is an urban farming company that partners with corporations, real estate companies and government institutions such as hospitals and schools to give unused spaces – like rooftops or vacant lots – new life as mini farms. The concept has produced bountiful results: MicroHabitat clients have donated to 38 food banks across North America and cultivated more than 73,000 pounds of fresh local produce. They’ve also donated 21,752 breakfasts to Canada’s Breakfast Club and 6,500 meals through America’s No Kid Hungry initiative.
That sparkle she sees in the eyes of MicroHabitat’s young farming participants is what drives her. “These kids are proud of growing food, and they see how magical food can be.”
Andrew WhiteBailey McLean/The Globe and Mail
Andrew White, founder and CEO of Toronto-based CHAR Technologies
Making steel is one of the most carbon-intensive activities on the planet. And the industry is responsible for up to 9 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Using a technology called high-temperature pyrolysis, CHAR is able to turn forestry waste products (parts of the tree that lumber companies would otherwise throw away) into various renewable energy products, including biocoal, which can replace metallurgical coal in steelmaking. The process is autothermal, meaning no external heat sources are required, and excess energy is created, thereby making the final product carbon-negative.
Over the next several decades, White says he expects steelmakers to shift to new technologies that will allow them to reduce or eliminate their carbon footprint. “But between now and the next 25 to 30 years, there’s a lot of these industrial processes that are going to keep running, and we can decarbonize them for the short term.”
What else you missed
- Capital Power says newly retooled Alberta plant poised for data centre opportunities
- Intense pollen season to begin in southwest B.C. this weekend, expert warns
- U.S. lobster catch drops as crustaceans migrate to colder Canadian waters
- Snowshoeing and resilience? Lessons from the deep woods
- The Indigenous-led solar farm redefining Alberta’s energy landscape
- Essential tips for a safe and successful road trip as the climate changes
- Swarm of underwater drones can help artificial reefs off Cyprus bring back sea life
Opinion and analysis
Sam Anderson: On an island carved by climate extremes, I came to better understand our own polarization
Chris Turner: Will high-speed rail help get Canada’s electric ambitions back on track?
Obituary: Oil industry insider Tom Beck advocated for environmental conservation
Green Investing
- B.C. Opposition Leader Rustad wants to hit U.S. with “carbon tax” on coal shipments
- BP cuts renewable investment, boosts oil and gas spending in strategy shift
The Climate Exchange
We’ve launched the next chapter of The Climate Exchange, an interactive, digital hub where The Globe answers your most pressing questions about climate change. More than 300 questions were submitted as of September. The first batch of answers tackles 30 of them. They 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. We plan to answer a total of 75 questions.
Photo of the week
Kamalpreet Singh works with the Project Re:Claim system, the first commercial-scale polyester recycling plant of it's kind, on Febr. 28, 2025 in Kettering, England. Project Re:Claim is a joint collaboration between the Salvation Army and Project Plan B. The system recycles unwanted polyester fabrics down to a form of pellet, which can then be spun into yarn or be used in other industrial applications. It has recycled more than 1,000 tonnes of polyester in its first year of operation, and aims to double that in time.Leon Neal/Getty Images
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
- Adapting limb by limb
- To survive winter, we need to slow down
- Canadian clean tech versus U.S. politics
- Tariffs, blueberries and groundhogs
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