Federal Government to Cut Fossil Energy Subsidies - As If.

 


Sounds good but wait, there's a catch. The Trudeau government has signed on to some other country's initiative to stop financing Canadian fossil fuel projects abroad.  It sounds like Mr. Trudeau's pledge to stop fossil fuel subsidies but - well, it's not. 

In spite of this prime minister's solemn promises to end fossil fuel subsidies at home - where it matters - Canada still has the most generous fossil energy subsidies in the G20. And we're dead last in public support for renewables.


Canadian fossil fuel producers receive more public financial support than any others in the developed world, according to a new analysis.

And compared to subsidies for oil, gas and coal, renewable energy gets less government help in Canada than in any other G20 country, say the latest figures from Oil Change International.

"They're very much going in the wrong direction," said Bronwen Tucker, who helped prepare the report for the group, which has been tracking public finance of fossil fuels since 2012.

We need a new term for Mr. Trudeau's litany of broken promises. I know, let's just call them 'Justinian'. The term should be expansive, broad enough to include greenwashing and every other example of high-grade horse shit that comes out of this guy.

Speaking of Justinian claims did you hear the one about how he's going to cap Tar Sands emissions? That's so Justinian. Vancouver's Georgia Straight explains why, here and here. This isn't counting your chickens before they hatch. It's counting chickens from imaginary eggs. 

And, for what it's worth, here's a link to a report from the Globe at the end of October announcing that Imperial Oil has had its best quarter in 30 years for petro-production.

To be fair to the prime minister (although he doesn't deserve it), Canada is in good company.  Casting a pall over the Glasgow climate summit, a new report from the Global Carbon Project finds that global GHG emissions are on a path to new record levels.  From The Guardian:

The world’s “carbon budget” is the total emissions allowed to retain a 50% chance of keeping global temperature rise below 1.5C, but analysis shows this will be blown in 11 years if the current rate of emissions continues.

“What is surprising is that [the rebound in emissions] happened so quickly, in spite of the fact that much of the global economy has not yet recovered,” said Prof Corinne Le Quéré, at the University of East Anglia, UK, and one of the analysis team. “This is really a reality check.”

Eleven years before 1.5 C target is blown. That's the path we're on. If that doesn't rattle you it ought to.  So much for 50 per cent by 2030 and Net-Zero by 2050.

And, if you have the belief that coal is on its way out, you're mistaken.

Slowing down the burning of coal should be low-hanging fruit for world leaders, but if the 2021 climate summit wants to seal the fate of coal-fired power plants, recent months have provided a reality check of how difficult the task will be. The world's appetite for burning the black nuggets is not abating.

This year, recovering economic activity is expected to push global coal demand up 4.5 per cent, a growth rate which is higher than 2019 levels before the pandemic.

While Canada is phasing out coal-fired power, burning coal remains the world's favoured option to produce electricity. That increasing demand is why almost every lump of coal that U.S. miners will dig out of the ground next year has already been sold.

Coal prices are also through the roof, hitting record levels in many parts of the world this year.

This was why legendary climate scientist, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, warned at the Paris climate summit in 2015 that achieving the 1.5 C target would be impossible without the "induced implosion" of the fossil energy industry.  Like that Disney movie, "Old Yeller," governments would just have to take them out behind the barn and shoot them.

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