The Road to Glasgow - Three Weeks and Counting

 

Biden climate czar, John Kerry, is expecting great things at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. But, with globalism in cardiac arrest and an energy crisis arriving just in time for winter, especially in coal-reliant China and India, Kerry's hopes may be dashed.

Energy prices are expected by some to soar in the months ahead. Another mini-oil boom for Alberta?  With the Wild Rose State (province? meh.) in a Covid uproar and Jason Kenney batting .000 lately, whatever plans Trudeau has, real or imagined, will be a tough sell.

Just to get the record straight. When it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, Canada ranks dead last among the G7 nations. We've been promised cuts so often for so long that some of us actually believe that's happened. Nope, sorry.

The current regime talked a good game when Trudeau and McKenna strolled onto the floor of the Paris climate summit in 2015 but it was pure bovine manure.  After six years of Liberal governance, Canada's GHG emissions have only increased.  At the same time as our emissions have increased, oilpatch jobs and royalties have tanked. Well done, Liberals. And, in fairness, that new and improved Trans Mountain pipeline, Trudeau's Folly, is providing government funded paycheques for the crews building it. Brilliant.

Oil and gas and the transport sector account for 52 per cent of Canada's GHG emissions. Oil and gas, however, account for just 8 per cent of GDP.  By accepted standards, Canada doesn't really qualify for petro-statehood. We only act that way.

I expect we'll hear plenty of stirring rhetoric from Canada at the Glasgow summit. We're really good at talking.  

Comments

  1. LorneOctober 12, 2021 at 10:48 AM

    I'm not holding my breath for any breakthroughs, Mound. Even Kerry's declared expectations seem more to fit the hot-air rhetoric surrounding emission reductions than they do anything substantive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibOctober 12, 2021 at 3:54 PM

      Getting meaningful action requires a powerful consensus. Mustering that essential resolve has proved elusive in relatively good times. Today world leaders face competing challenges - Covid, the problem with brittle and overstressed supply chains, and energy insecurity.

      No one seems willing to predict what to expect from some of the big players - Xi, Modi and Putin. Xi and Modi will be scrounging coal. Putin will be out to stitch up the EU gas market.

      The curse of the climate crisis is that every nation experiences it differently. Even if every nation agrees to a common target there's little uniformity in how to get there. Most will try to minimize their own sacrifice. That includes Canada where we steadfastly refuse to accept any responsibility for the impacts of our high carbon energy exports once they leave our waters.

      Delete

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