• 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
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022 January 31, 2023
Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB January 31, 2023
Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty January 31, 2023
Rainforest Carbon Credits from World’s Biggest Provider are ‘Largely Worthless’, Investigation Finds January 31, 2023
Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing January 23, 2023
Next
Prev

McCarthy: 2021 Could Be ‘Pivotal Year’ for Climate Action

January 18, 2021
Reading time: 4 minutes

young shanahan/Wikimedia Commons

young shanahan/Wikimedia Commons

 

With climate action and ambition accelerating toward the end of last year, in Canada and internationally, and COVID-19 vaccine distribution under way, 2021 could be a pivotal year in the fight to get the climate crisis under control, writes Shawn McCarthy, senior counsel at the Sussex Strategy Group, in a post last week for Policy Options.

“In its annual emissions gap report released in early December, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) noted many countries, including Canada, are not on track to meet modest Paris targets, let alone more ambitious ones that are needed to avert a climate catastrophe later this century,” McCarthy writes. “Indeed, GHG emissions continued to rise in 2019, and after a decline in 2020 due to the pandemic, could increase sharply as we emerge from the crisis unless aggressive action is taken to avoid that scenario.”

  • Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
  • A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
  • The Weekender:The climate news you need.
New!
Subscribe

And yet, “despite that grim assessment, there is cause for hope that 2021 will be a watershed year in the global battle against climate change.”

McCarthy recaps major progress toward decarbonization through the last few months of 2020 and cites six milestones ahead: this week’s presidential inauguration in the United States, the impending Supreme Court of Canada ruling on carbon pricing, this year’s federal budget, U.S. President Joe Biden’s impending decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, a federal election in Canada, and November’s United Nations climate conference, COP 26, in Glasgow.

• With his arrival in the White House two days from now, Biden “will reverse the past four years of climate neglect practiced by Donald Trump,” McCarthy writes. But even with control of the U.S. Senate passing to a razor-thin Democratic majority, “the Biden administration will have trouble getting climate change legislation through a fractious Congress, where even Democrats don’t agree on what’s required. The president-elect may have to rely considerably on executive branch action, including new fuel efficiency standards for vehicles that Canada will likely sign on to.”

• A favourable Supreme Court ruling on the Trudeau government’s floor price on carbon “would allow the Liberals to proceed” with its plan to ratchet up the price to C$170 per tonne by 2030. “A loss would represent a serious setback for federal climate policy, though Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says Ottawa is prepared with a Plan B.”

• The federal Speech from the Throne last September put climate action at the centre of the government’s pandemic recovery plan, and as McCarthy notes, there was much disappointment with the updated climate plan that followed in December. The budget to be tabled by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in the first half of this year “may include additional spending in areas such as public transit, clean infrastructure, and measures to reduce risks of massive property damage from extreme weather events,” he writes. “As well, Ottawa is considering new tax incentives for carbon capture and sequestration and investment in hydrogen infrastructure.”

• Writing last week, McCarthy said Biden and incoming White House climate “czar” John Kerry would likely cancel the Keystone XL pipeline, despite continuing lobbying from Ottawa and massive financial support from the Jason Kenney government in Alberta. CBC appeared to confirm that yesterday, with a report that Biden will kill the project on the first day of his presidency.

• Climate change will be a major issue if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calls a federal election this year, just as it was in the 2019 campaign, McCarthy says. “Trudeau has staked his government on the belief Canadians are willing to swallow a large increase in the carbon levy so long as they have the money return to them in the form of rebates,” he writes. Conservative leader Erin O’Toole “is looking to establish his party’s credibility on climate change” and has endorsed a 2050 target for net-zero emissions, “but has not produced a plan to achieve such a target.”

• And finally, with governments expected to come forward with new targets for faster, deeper carbon cuts, COP 26 “will provide a clear indication of the world’s ability to tackle climate change,” he writes. “We should heed the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic in taking seriously the warnings of scientists and insisting our governments act to head off a looming crisis.”



in Canada, Carbon Levels & Measurement, CCS & Negative Emissions, Climate & Society, Community Climate Finance, COP Conferences, Demand & Distribution, Ending Emissions, Energy / Carbon Pricing & Economics, Energy Subsidies, Fossil Fuels, Hydrogen, International Agencies & Studies, Jurisdictions, Legal & Regulatory, Pipelines / Rail Transport, Renewable Energy, Sub-National Governments, Transit, United States

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Mike Mozart/Flickr
Ending Emissions

BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022

February 4, 2023
331
Gina Dittmer/PublicDomainPictures
Canada

Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB

January 31, 2023
196
CONFENIAE
Ending Emissions

Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty

January 31, 2023
61

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

Mike Mozart/Flickr

BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022

February 4, 2023
331
Sam Balto/YouTube

Elementary School’s Bike Bus Brings ‘Sheer Joy’ to Portland Neighbourhood

October 16, 2022
261
Lucio Santos/flickr

Canadian Banks Increased Fossil Investment in 2021, Report Card Shows

November 27, 2022
116
RL0919/wikimedia commons

Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing

January 23, 2023
2.4k

Recent Posts

Gina Dittmer/PublicDomainPictures

Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB

January 31, 2023
196
CONFENIAE

Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty

January 31, 2023
61
Ken Teegardin www.SeniorLiving.Org/flickr

Virtual Power Plants Hit an ‘Inflection Point’

January 31, 2023
125
/snappy goat

Rainforest Carbon Credits from World’s Biggest Provider are ‘Largely Worthless’, Investigation Finds

January 31, 2023
94
Victorgrigas/wikimedia commons

World Bank Climate Reforms Too ‘Timid and Slow,’ Critics Warn

January 31, 2023
42
Doc Searls/Twitter

Guilbeault Could Intervene on Ontario Greenbelt Development

January 31, 2023
132
Next Post
Adam Scotti/PMO

New Ministerial Mandate Letters Lay Out Federal Agenda on Climate, Green Recovery

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
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

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}