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Climate Change, Carbon Taxes, Decarbonization and ENGOs

Climate protesters storm German coal mines (Deutsche Welle – December 30, 2019)

https://www.dw.com/en/

Several major coal mines in eastern Germany were hit by protests on Saturday as activists criticized the German government’s climate change plans and urged an immediate coal phase-out.

Authorities said more than 1,000 people took part in the protests, which targeted the Jänschwalde and Welzow-Süd mines in the state of Brandenburg, as well as the United Schleenhain mine in the state of Saxony.

The environmental group Ende Gelände (End of the Road) put the number of protesters at 4,000. Activists blocked train tracks at some sites, seeking to disrupt the flow of coal to power plants.

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China boosting coal power despite global plea to cut emissions – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – November 22, 2019)

https://www.mining.com/

Less than four years after China vowed to limit the use of coal and cancelled more than 100 coal power projects, a new study shows the nation — the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter — is back in love with the fossil fuel.

According to the latest report by Global Energy Monitor, a non-profit group that tracks coal stations, the Asian giant is set to fire up enough coal-based power plants to match the entire capacity of the European Union, which currently sits at 149 gigawatts (GW).

Across the country, 148 GW of coal-fired plants are either being built or are about to begin construction, the study shows. The figure is also higher than the combined 105 gigawatts under construction in the rest of the world, it notes.

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The IPCC isn’t quite as apocalyptic as Greta Thunberg – by Conrad Black (National Post – November 23, 2019)

https://nationalpost.com/

I am not trying to twist the IPCC’s meaning. It clearly acknowledges that an acceleration (and a slight acceleration at that) in global warming is not certain and if it occurs at all, it will not be solely due to human activities

The Green Terror grips Canada. Everyone can agree that environmental pollution should be combated and everyone can agree that maximum vigilance should be exercised to deduce what climate changes are occurring and to determine the appropriate response.

But in enunciating these unexceptionable points and stopping there, I lay myself open to immense obloquy as a climate denier, though I am not denying anything for which there is evidence. Historians of the future will wring their hands in wonderment that we have succumbed to a cultic madness, and elevated its most strident or spectacular espousers to a position of totalitarian intellectual authority.

Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish schoolgirl, tours the world like an atheistic St. Joan of Arc, high priestess of the evangelizing religion of climatism, transmitting her Revelations. She is actually preaching from the latest report of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group that has had serious intermittent problems of credibility, with dire predictions that have simply not come to pass.

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The numbers show our green obsession is hurting Canada – by Lorne Gunter (Toronto Sun – November 16, 2019)

https://torontosun.com/

For instance, Ontario Liberal policies gave that province the highest
electricity costs on the continent, which contributed to the loss of
200,000 manufacturing jobs in the past 15 years. … Instead, they
are now trying to duplicate their disaster on a national scale.

The latest numbers on economic productivity in Canada are extremely disappointing. And with the Liberals back in power, the numbers are about to get worse, especially considering that the Trudeau government is now held in office by three anti-development parties — the NDP, Greens and Bloc Quebecois.

Even our “have” provinces fall far behind the top American states. And Canada’s poorest — the three Maritime provinces — are at or below the lowest state, Mississippi.

According to work done by Trevor Tombe, a University of Calgary economist, Alberta is Canada’s wealthiest province with a per capita GDP of $64,000 US. Yet that is behind 16 American states. Indeed, Alberta is a full 25% below the richest American jurisdiction — New York state at $86,000.

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Another Big Mining Company Coal-Free Future – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – November 12, 2019)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Want the lowdown on European markets? In your inbox before the open, every day. Sign up here. Anglo American Plc dropped another hint that its days of mining the world’s most polluting fuel are limited.

In a slew of presentations released for an investor visit to Anglo assets in Australia, thermal coal was noticeably absent from a list of units seen to have long-term potential. The company is on a trajectory away from thermal coal, and will do so responsibly, an Anglo spokesman said.

Anglo will decide in the next year if thermal coal fits into its future portfolio, and may be better off selling the assets, RBC Capital Markets said in a note following the presentations.

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Canadian carbon guilt belongs in a parallel universe – by Terence Corcoran (Financial Post – November 12, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Canada boasts that it has reduced coal usage. … India’s minister
of coals and mines said recently that Coal India, the government
-owned national producer, aimed to boost output to one billion
tonnes a year from about 700 million tonnes currently.

As the political convulsions within Canada over Alberta’s fossil fuel future unfold, including divisive talk of separation and Wexit, one has to wonder what alternative planet Canadians inhabit.

After an election filled with emergency calls to end fossil fuel use within a decade or two, the country that was built on natural resources is now being torn apart over whether to build a pipeline to carry a few driblets of oil through the Trans Mountain pipeline to the West Coast.

Driblets is the right word in the context of Planet Earth. Global oil production may already exceed 100 million barrels a day. The additional volume of oil to be delivered through the proposed TMX expansion line — about 600,000 barrels a day — is equivalent to 0.6 per cent of global production. By way of comparison, imagine standing in front of a supermarket aisle of 2,000 cans of beer; proportionately, TMX would add two six-packs.

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Burning Coal – by David Fickling (Bloomberg News – November 11, 2019)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

It’s becoming harder for Australia’s government to avoid talking about the link between its biggest export earner and rising temperatures.

You could smell the approach of Sydney’s bushfires two weeks away. Leaving my home for work last month at a time when California’s fires were at their most intense, the sandalwood odor of burning eucalyptus was heavy on the air.

Looking north from Bloomberg’s office to the far side of Sydney Harbour, the normally sparkling blue water was a barely discernible smudge. That was mostly not wildfire, but a dozen deliberate hazard-reduction burns under way across the metropolitan area in a last-ditch attempt to eliminate flammable plant litter and undergrowth before conditions worsened.

Tuesday will prove a test of how effective that has been. Sydney’s entire metropolitan area and a swathe of country in the Hunter Valley to the north and Illawarra to the south will face catastrophic fire danger, the highest risk rating in New South Wales state, thanks to strong winds combined with temperatures up to 37 degrees centigrade.

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Thousands of scientists sign open letter declaring Earth is facing a ‘climate emergency’ – by Bob Weber (Globe and Mail – November 6, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

THE CANADIAN PRESS: An open letter signed by thousands of scientists from around the world may be the clearest demonstration yet of their near-unanimous agreement over the globe’s emerging climate crisis.

Published Tuesday in the journal BioScience, the letter includes 11,258 signatures from 153 countries – including 409 from Canada. “We declare … clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency,” the letter’s opening statement says.

It’s another example of a growing willingness by scientists to leave their labs in an attempt to persuade the public to take seriously what research is telling them.

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RPT-COLUMN-Rio Tinto says miners need to do more on the environment. Here’s how – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – October 29, 2019)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) – The boss of one of the world’s biggest mining companies wants the industry to do more than talk about winning a social licence in an increasingly carbon constrained world. The problem is that his company and others probably won’t like the solutions.

Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques told the London Metal Exchange (LME) annual forum on Monday that mining needed to do more on the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) front in order to remain relevant and profitable as the world deals with climate change.

“Lots of people are talking about it, but I’m not sure there is action,” Jacques said. Notwithstanding that Jacques himself was talking about it, he is probably correct that the mining industry, and more broadly the natural resources sector, has yet to fully get to grips with how the industry will look in the next 20-30 years.

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Rio Tinto says miners need to leverage technology as scrutiny of the industry rises (Reuters U.S. – October 28, 2019)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Oct 28 (Reuters) – Mining companies should make more use of technology to respond to increasing demands from investors and communities for responsible mining practices, Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sébastien Jacques said on Monday.

Technologies such as autonomous rail-cars and increased automation can lower the impact of the industry on the environment as well as raise profit margins, he said, adding that blockchain can be deployed to track if the supply chain met ethical standards.

“There is absolutely no doubt in my mind we will face greater regulation and scrutiny,” Jacques said in a keynote speech marking the beginning of London Metal Exchange (LME) Week in London.

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This mess of an election has definitely changed the climate in the West – by Rex Murphy (National Post – October 26, 2019)

https://nationalpost.com/

Justin Trudeau has stated his priority going forward will be climate change. He sees it as “unifying.” Many are claiming the election was “a climate-change election.” I beg to differ on both counts.

Legitimizing the mess we just endured under the explanatory banner that it was a vote about climate change is claptrap, and a pretty low grade of claptrap at that.

Not even the watery pilgrimage of the sainted Greta Thunberg to our shores, and the emptying of half the schoolrooms of the nation for what was called a climate emergency march, had any perceptible effect on Monday’s vote.

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From Wyoming to Australia, Coal’s Heartlands Are Retreating – by David Fickling (Bloomberg News – October 24, 2019)

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

(Bloomberg Opinion) — From the Rocky Mountains to the Rhineland and Australia’s Great Dividing Range, the great tide of the coal industry is receding.

The entire Powder River Basin, the region spanning the states of Montana and Wyoming that provides about half of America’s thermal coal, is “distressed,” Moody’s Investors Service wrote in a report last week.

All companies producing coal there are now focusing on mining coking coal elsewhere in the U.S., the ratings company wrote. Output “will likely fall significantly in 2020,” it said.

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Nuclear energy is a vital part of solving the climate crisis – by John Gorman (Globe and Mail – October 24, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

I never thought I would become a passionate champion for nuclear energy. But after 20 years of advocating for renewable energy, I’ve overcome the misconceptions I had in the past and I am convinced by the evidence we can’t fight climate change without nuclear.

When I was the chief executive of the Canadian Solar Industries Association, I thought the “holy grail” was to make renewable energy cost-competitive so it could fulfill our energy needs. Today, wind and solar are among the cheapest forms of energy in many places around the world. The generous subsidies that fuelled early growth are no longer at play, yet the growth of wind and solar continues.

Despite the strong growth, the percentage of emissions-free electricity in the world has not increased in 20 years. It’s stuck at 36 per cent, according to a recent IEA report.

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Trudeau has failed. Voters should toss him out – by Conrad Black (National Post – October 18, 2019)

https://nationalpost.com/

If Stephen Harper had retired five years ago, as many advised, he would be regarded as one of the country’s outstanding prime ministers and would have been spared the ultimate defeat that has needlessly ended the careers of many other leaders, including such distinguished statesmen as Laurier, St. Laurent, Adenauer, de Gaulle, Thatcher and Helmut Kohl.

But he went for a fourth straight election without some of his best ministers, including the late Jim Flaherty, John Baird and Peter MacKay, was more dictatorial than ever, conducted a completely incompetent campaign based on women’s headgear in public places and a conjured threat of mass migration from the Middle East, and was sent to the showers.

As I wrote here in the past two weeks, for four years we have had image government from his successor; pandering to voting sub-groups in a politically atomized country.

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A Fortune Lies in Canada’s Oil Sands. Many Voters Want to Leave It There – by Kevin Orland and Natalie Obiko Pearson (Bloomberg News – October 16, 2019)

“These lands contain the world’s third-largest crude reserves, but
the sticky bitumen extracted needs to be transported to market,
and that means building hugely contentious pipelines. At present,
there just aren’t enough of them for an energy sector that accounts
for a tenth of Canada’s economy and a fifth of its exports.”

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/

(Bloomberg) — At the Fish Place diner in Fort McMurray, booths are filled with oil workers in baseball caps and the parking lot is lined with pickup trucks sporting six-foot (1.8 meter) neon safety flags, a hallmark of the mining industry.

Fort McMurray is the regional hub for the oil sands that produce two-thirds of Canada’s crude, a status that puts the city carved out of Alberta’s wilderness at the heart of the Oct. 21 federal election.

Robbie Picard, who heads an oil-sands advocacy group, calls it “the most important election we’ve ever had.” Over a breakfast of eggs and cheese in the diner, Picard said that a second term for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would cause “anxiety, depression and despair” in the city. “I’m terrified for our future,” he said.

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