The Energy Mix is launching two new special reports, one of them on Canada’s drive to net zero, the other on America’s electoral climate in 2020.
The reports reflect two of the key priorities—getting Canada on a much more ambitious track for carbon reductions, and bringing a dose of sanity to U.S. climate policy—that North American climate hawks brought to the new decade, before those agendas were largely derailed by the coronavirus pandemic. We’ll be keeping both pages up to date as the stories develop through the year.
With nearly two-thirds of Canadian voters last fall supporting parties that promised more aggressive climate action, “the Trudeau government began its second term pledging tougher 2030 carbon targets, a net-zero target for 2050, greater climate accountability, and a whole-of-government response to the climate crisis,” the special reports page states. Now, we’ll be watching and telling the story as Ottawa sets the terms for a green economic recovery from the pandemic.
South of the border, meanwhile, “since Donald Trump entered the White House, the United States has gutted climate and environmental regulations, tried to speed up fossil fuel development, announced its withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Agreement, and more. Now, with climate still a high priority in many voters’ minds, but an entirely different global emergency setting the tone for the November 3 election, citizens will decide whether the U.S. rejoins the community of nations to confront the climate crisis.”
You might want to bookmark our new special reports, because they’ll be changing day by day. As we publish stories on climate policy in either country, or on electoral politics in the U.S., they’ll be automatically included in the special reports, giving you a one-stop window on the latest news in each country.
Other special reports in the series have covered topics like Alberta’s bitumen pipe dream, carbon farming, municipal and provincial/state climate action, the drive to 1.5°C, and Canada’s climate change election in 2019.
Net zero by 2050 is discredited spin but is still the kick-the-can-down-the-road excuse that seems to be a mantra throughout Liberal communications including their captured climate intelligensia, Climate Solutions, Smart Prosperity
2050 is too late – we must drastically cut emissions much sooner
September 15, 2019 6.20am EDT
https://theconversation.com/2050-is-too-late-we-must-drastically-cut-emissions-much-sooner-121512?link_id=9&can_id=2ad1fbc435314a5e54ec4b17aaf645e5&source=email-newsletter-29-get-ready-to-change-the-world&email_referrer=email_632268&email_subject=newsletter-29-get-ready-to-change-the-world
“It is dangerously misleading for advanced nations to set target dates as far out as 2050. Doing so ignores the importance of staying within a fair carbon budget and gives a false impression that action can be delayed. In reality, the only way to ensure that any developed country remains within its fair budget is to aim for an early net zero target. For the UK, that means bringing forward the government’s target by at least two decades.
“This might all seem daunting, but every year that progress is delayed, the challenge only gets bigger. Remaining within a fair carbon budget for the rest of this century requires deep and early decarbonisation. Anything else will risk a climate catastrophe.”