In 2009, when Canada and other G20 nations first pledged to tackle fossil fuel subsidies, a collective promise was made to do away with ‘inefficient’ subsidies. But the term inefficient has never been defined, giving governments and political parties during this election a significant amount of wiggle room
If federal parties are serious about taking on climate change, they need to stop giving money to the oil and gas industry, according to two climate experts.
The time has come for a major reboot of the CleanBC goals.
As we come to the end of what has been a devastating summer for many British Columbians — marked by the June heat dome event and the loss of nearly 600 people, hundreds of wildfires leading to people losing their homes, days of smoke, thousands of evacuations — the time has come for a major reboot of CleanBC, the province’s climate plan.
"If agencies want to remain relevant, and attractive places to work for top young talent, they need to end their work for the worst polluters on the planet."
"You had a future, and so should we."
"We, tomorrow's leaders, call on all agencies, from the holding companies to the independent shops, to stop working with fossil fuel clients. This means oil giants as well as the alphabet soup of trade associations and front groups."
—71 young professionals
WHILE FAMILY AND FRIENDS of the 569 British Columbians who died in June as a direct result of runaway global heating were still grieving, the provincial government was quietly approving the initial project plan for another huge fossil fuel facility.
Twenty people were injured and two buildings were destroyed last week in Wheatley, a town of 3,000 people on the southwestern tip of Ontario, after an explosion triggered by a hydrogen sulphide leak from an abandoned gas well that was first declared an emergency on June 3.
The industry has been pushing through policies devoting billions of dollars to the technology, and much more is likely to come with legislation pending before Congress.
Over the last year, energy companies, electrical utilities and other industrial sectors have been quietly pushing through a suite of policies to support a technology that stands to yield tens of billions of dollars for corporate polluters, but may do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.