• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
  FEATURED
BREAKING: Don’t Attend COP 28 Unless You’re There to Help, Figueres Tells Oil and Gas September 21, 2023
Thorold Gas Peaker Plant Won’t Be Built After Unanimous City Council Vote September 20, 2023
Indoor Heat Leaves Canadians Unsafe with ‘No Escape’, CBC Investigation Finds September 20, 2023
Agrivoltaics a Win-Win for Farmers, Communities, Solar Developers, and Alberta’s UCP September 20, 2023
‘Beginning of the End’ for Oil and Gas as IEA Predicts Pre-2030 Peak September 19, 2023
Next
Prev

Canada Courts a ‘Supersize’ Carbon Dependence

March 1, 2017
Reading time: 2 minutes

Alfred Palmer/Wikimedia Commons

Alfred Palmer/Wikimedia Commons

 
Alfred Palmer/Wikimedia Commons

Canada’s carbon-tied economy is turning the country into one of the greatest threats to restabilizing the climate. It’s also threatening to blow up the national economy, suggests Barry Saxifrage in the National Observer.

Rolling together all “the fossil fuels dug from the ground last year in Canada,” Saxifrage asserts that the solvency of the Canadian economy relies on the sale of products containing the equivalent of 32 tonnes of CO2 for each Canadian citizen—“twice as much as Americans, five times as much as the Chinese, and 10 times as much as the European Union.”

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
Subscribe

Only “a few OPEC nations like Kuwait, Qatar and the Saudis are even more carbon-exposed per capita than Canada,” he observes. “Other OPEC nations such as Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, and Libya extract half as much carbon pollution per capita as we do.

“Bottom line: Canada is one of the world’s dozen largest carbon pollution extractors per capita, and we are certainly at the extreme end among our major economy peers.”

Since 1990, Saxifrage adds, the United States has slightly reduced its per capita extraction of greenhouse gas-releasing fossil fuels. Canada’s extraction has soared, with plans to expand it further. “Our increase alone dwarfs the entire total of most major economies. Clearly, we aren’t just doing what everyone else is. Instead, we are supersizing our CO2 extraction, and with it our climate impact and our carbon dependency.”

Two forces are working against Canada’s bet on fossil fuels, Saxifrage writes. One is the planet’s awakening to the need to stabilize the climate “to save humanity”. The other is the falling price of cleaner technology.

“Some people I talk to about our extreme carbon dependency say it is just ‘politically impossible’ for political leaders to transition our economy to one that aligns with a safe climate,” he notes. “My response is: ‘How do we know?’ No leader in power has really tried to explain the situation to Canadians and then lead discussions on alternatives.”



in Energy / Carbon Pricing & Economics

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

CoCreatr/Flickr
Buildings & Infrastructure

Net-Zero Depends on Household Power Production, Energy Exec Argues

September 14, 2023
141
Pierre Poilievre/Facebook
Energy Politics

Poilievre Could Dial Back Canada’s Climate Gains, Globe Editorial Warns

September 12, 2023
501
Scott Beale/flickr
Energy / Carbon Pricing & Economics

What If Carbon Taxes Applied to Shareholders, Rather Than Consumers?

September 11, 2023
123

Comments 1

  1. Alex Carlin says:
    6 years ago

    What a great article. Telling it like it is. Politically impossible to align with a safe climate – that is absurd and, as the author says, not tested.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

UN Climate Change/flickr

BREAKING: Don’t Attend COP 28 Unless You’re There to Help, Figueres Tells Oil and Gas

September 21, 2023
404
Kristoferb/Wikimedia Commons

Canadians Could Save $10.4B, Cut Climate Pollution by Replacing Central Air with Heat Pumps

August 28, 2023
810
/Piqusels

‘Beginning of the End’ for Oil and Gas as IEA Predicts Pre-2030 Peak

September 19, 2023
469
Asurnipal/wikimedia commons

Agrivoltaics a Win-Win for Farmers, Communities, Solar Developers, and Alberta’s UCP

September 20, 2023
171
Jon Sullivan/flickr

Thorold Gas Peaker Plant Won’t Be Built After Unanimous City Council Vote

September 21, 2023
592
Rennett Stowe/flickr

‘I’ve Been Ghosted,’ Rural Mayor Says, as Alberta Towns Push Back on Renewables Moratorium

September 8, 2023
1.9k

Recent Posts

Rewat Wannasuk/Pexels

Virtual Power Plants Could Cut Peak Demand 20%, Save U.S. Grid $10B Per Year

September 20, 2023
95
Jeremy Bezanger/Unsplash

Indoor Heat Leaves Canadians Unsafe with ‘No Escape’, CBC Investigation Finds

September 20, 2023
62
Wesley Fryer/flickr

Smart Thermostats Boost Grid Stability Amid Intense Heat

September 20, 2023
45
Cullen328/wikimedia commons

Manufactured Housing Could Dent the Affordable Housing Crunch with Energy-Efficient Designs

September 20, 2023
120
Mr Renewables/Wikipedia

Californians Fight for New Community Solar Plan

September 20, 2023
106
Plug'n Drive/Wikimedia Commons

Rural Carshares Ensure EV Push Leaves No One Behind

September 20, 2023
39
Next Post

Spring moving forward at record rate

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
The Energy Mix - Energy Central
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}