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Climate Change, Carbon Taxes, Decarbonization and ENGOs

Steven Guilbeault goes to China and burns his climate credibility – by Terry Glavin (National Post – August 23, 2023)

https://nationalpost.com/

China’s greenhouse-gas outputs have doubled and tripled, while emissions from the rest of the industrialized world have flatlined since 2001

It’s no wonder that Canadians are among the most skeptical people in the world when it comes to confidence in their government’s capacity to deal with climate change. That was the finding of a global Ipsos survey earlier this year, and there’s no reason to think that this summer’s record-breaking wildfires across Canada will change things much.

The Trudeau Liberals’ hectoring and hyperbole won’t help matters, and their invitations to cynicism are only coming thicker and faster now that Justin Trudeau’s government is sending Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault to Beijing to participate in a pantomime of global-warming earnestness.

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Guilbeault wants China as ally, serves as adviser to Beijing – by Brian Lilley (Toronto Sun – August 16, 2023)

https://torontosun.com/

Trudeau’s environment minister is picking fights with Canada’s premiers while advising the government of coal powered China.

Justin Trudeau’s environment minister, Steven Guilbeault, is pulling double duty as an official adviser to the Chinese government. Turns out, he also wants to make Beijing an ally on the environmental issue and will head to coal-powered China at the end of the month after lecturing Canada’s premiers on using fossil fuels.

During an exclusive interview Guilbeault granted to environmental activist media outlet the National Observer, he acknowledged that he’d be criticized for the trip.

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Trudeau Liberals offer pie-in-the-sky energy plan, Smith fires it back in their face – by David Staples (Edmonton Journal – August 11, 2023)

https://edmontonjournal.com/

How much credibility should we give to economic forecasts by the Trudeau Liberals? Next to zero.

The dreams of the Trudeau Liberals amount to pies in the sky. The Liberals are big on lofty goals, short on pragmatic process and down-to-earth deadlines, the most recent example being their draft regulations for a net-zero energy grid by 2035, announced at a news conference Thursday in Toronto by federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.

Guilbeault used many fine phrases to sell his scheme — “generational economic opportunity,” “good middle-class jobs,” “a future where energy is clean, affordable and reliable.” He made his happy assurances with all the confidence of someone who has jetted off to 100 climate change conferences and believed every word he’s ever heard there.

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The perils of rushing to net-zero electricity – by Joe Oliver (Financial Post – August 15, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Ottawa’s rush to net-zero electricity will be risky and expensive

In March 2022, from its green perch high above us mere mortals, the federal government arbitrarily mandated a virtually unachievable net-zero national electricity grid by 2035, which will undermine electricity’s reliability and affordability and cost $54 billion, less hoped for future savings.

Guilbeault, minister of environment and climate change, supported by Jonathan Wilkinson, minister of energy and natural resources, set a policy table groaning with threats and only a few inducements. They specifically decreed that no new unabated natural gas facilities should be commissioned after 2025, i.e. without carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), which will make the transition exceptionally difficult.

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Rio to build Canada’s largest solar farm – by Esmarie Iannucci (Mining Weekly – August 11, 2023)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mining major Rio Tinto has announced plans to build Canada’s largest solar plant at its Diavik diamond mine.

The solar plant will feature over 6 600 solar panels that will generate approximately 4 200 MWh of carbon-free electricity annually for the mine. The solar power plant will provide up to 25% of Diavik’s electricity during closure work that will run until 2029, with commercial production from the operation expected to end in early 2026.

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The unspoken story about what it will take to reach net zero goals – by Adam Legge (Toronto Star – August 7, 2023)

https://www.thestar.com/

Adam Legge is president of the Business Council of Alberta.

The hard reality is if we don’t improve our regulatory systems, Canada will not be able to approve, let alone build, the projects required.

Politicians, business leaders, bureaucrats and the media regularly discuss decarbonization and a rosy future where Canada is no longer a net contributor of emissions that are causing global climate change.

But too often, absent from that discussion is what we actually have to do to meet the federal government’s objective to be a net-zero nation by 2050, never mind the ambitious environmental targets that are quickly approaching in 2030.

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An inconvenient truth… there’s not enough critical metals to reach net zero – by James Cooper (Mining.com – August 8, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

James Cooper is a commodities analyst and geologist.

I’ve taken the title for this article from the 2006 documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore’s campaign to educate people about global warming…

It was called An Inconvenient Truth.

So today, we’re going to deliver you perhaps a more pressing ‘inconvenient truth,’ one that’s set to undo our multi-generation assumption that energy supplies would remain cheap and abundant. I set the scene back in June showing you why this energy crisis is being born out of years of under investment in the oil and gas industry. If you haven’t already, I suggest you read that here.

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A year after the IRA, industrial policy has gone global. Now what? – by David L. Goldwyn and Andrea Clabough (Atlantic Council – August 7,2023)

Atlantic Council – Shaping the global future together

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) may prove to be one of the most transformative pieces of economic legislation in US history. The vast waves of investment coming to US shores throughout the last year bear out this possibility. One recent analysis estimated that between August 2022 and January 2023, over 100,000 clean energy jobs were created in the United States as a result of almost $90 billion invested in dozens of clean energy projects.

The domestic impacts of the IRA are undeniable. It is less certain what it means for the global energy transition. One year later, much work remains ahead to maximize the potential of the IRA. While US policymakers should consider the IRA’s long-term future and extend many of its provisions past 2032, officials must prioritize opportunities to align with like-minded allies overseas.

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Slowing global trade will make fighting climate change harder, says BHP exec – by Alisha Hiyate (Northern Miner – July 21, 2023)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Mega-miner BHP takes a longer view than most. The Melbourne-based company, with copper, iron ore, coal and nickel mines in Australia and South America, looks at broad global trends that will shape markets for 20 years to half a century when choosing investments. Decarbonization, electrification and population growth are the trends that they’re paying attention to.

“We’re going to need more copper. We’re going to need more nickel,” says Ragg Udd, president of BHP’s (NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP; ASX: BHP) Minerals America division. “We’re going to need more potash, and that’s where we’re trying to make strong investments into those jurisdictions working at very high ESG standards.”

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By 2050, Used Wind Turbine Blades Will Exceed 43 Million Tons Of Waste Every Year – by Kevin Killough (Cowboy State Daily – March 1, 2023)

https://cowboystatedaily.com/

Because wind turbine blades are very difficult to recycle, the waste stream created by the retired blades is a mounting problem. By 2050, there will be 43 million tons of blade waste produced every year — the equivalent of 215,000 locomotives.

The speed by which wind farms are being constructed across the U.S. is going faster than a spring wind in Casper. In about 20 years, the wind turbines put into operation today will be nearing the end of their lifespan. The ones built 20 years ago are nearing it now.

Since the blades are very difficult to recycle, the waste stream created by the retired blades is a mounting problem. According to a 2017 study published in the scientific journal Waste Management, the world’s wind industry will be producing 43 million tons of blade waste annually by 2050.

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Report: Critical minerals supply chain puts speed of energy transition at risk – by Kelsey Tamborrino (Politico.com – July 2023)

https://www.politico.com/

The world’s supply of critical minerals is vulnerable to disruptions that could slow the transition to clean energy because their mining and refining are concentrated in the hands of a few companies and countries, an international renewable energy body said on Tuesday.

Those minerals, used to build clean technologies from wind turbines to electric cars, have drawn increasing interest from national governments eager to cut emissions and fight climate change — an effort that could be slowed if countries don’t work together to diversify the sources of the materials, the International Renewable Energy Agency warned in a new report provided to POLITICO ahead of its release later this week.

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The world’s appetite for solar panels is squeezing silver supply (Bloomberg News – July 2, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Changes to solar panel technology are accelerating demand for silver, a phenomenon that’s widening a supply deficit for the metal with little additional mine production on the horizon.

Silver, in paste form, provides a conductive layer on the front and the back of silicon solar cells. But the industry is now beginning to make more efficient versions of cells that use a lot more of the metal, which is set to boost already-increasing consumption.

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The lunatic left hijacked the environment for anti-capitalist ends – by Conrad Black (National Post – June 24, 2023)

https://nationalpost.com/

Destroying the economy in the name of climate change is their obsession

The recent fog that settled briefly on many northeastern cities from Ottawa to Philadelphia as a result of unusually extensive forest fires in Quebec and northern Ontario led to the predictable conscription of this freakish event as further evidence of the need to assault the oil and gas industry and ratchet up the cost of living of practically everyone.

This is part of the self-assigned Canadian mission of saving the planet from the capitalists. There is never much of a respite from outbursts of delusional absurdities of the climate extremists. I’m not a climate denier but I am a resolute and vociferous opponent of hare-brained, self-punitive, instant cures for problems whose causes, proportions, and possible solutions are not fully known to us.

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Canada’s climate activists want to be taken seriously but not literally – by Sean Speer (The Hub – May 29, 2023)

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The Public Policy Forum (disclosure: where I am a senior fellow) recently released a major paper on Canada’s climate goals and the implications for the oil and gas sector. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in climate policy and the inherent trade-offs in different policy approaches.

Yet the paper has been criticized in some policy quarters for various reasons including, for instance, that it doesn’t properly account for the economic benefits of cultivating fossil fuel alternatives. (The researchers who produced the analysis have responded to this particular critique.)

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OPINION: How big are Canada’s carbon emissions? Compared to China, we’re a rounding error – by Tony Keller (Globe and Mail – May 30, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Please note that Canada is the 4th biggest oil producer and the 6th largest natural gas producer in the world, and yet we still only contribute 1.5 per cent of global carbon emissions!- Stan Sudol

And two points to remember: Canada is the 4th biggest oil producer and the 6th largest natural gas producer in the world. And we still only contribute 1.5 per cent of global carbon emissions!! – Stan Sudol.

The statement from the most recent Group of Seven heads of government annual meeting, held earlier this month in Japan, is an encyclopedia of commitments and wishes, weighing in at 40 pages and 19,000 words. It takes positions on everything from human rights in Afghanistan to the challenge of artificial intelligence to the need for “stable access to affordable, safe, sufficient and nutritious food for each and every individual” on the planet.

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