Tausi Insider

Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault takes part in a news conference in Ottawa, on Sept. 15. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press Canada’s Environment Minister said he sees at least one advantage of using an emissions cap over a pricing system to bring down the oil and gas industry’s burgeoning output of greenhouse gas. In an interview on Monday with Tausi Insider at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt, Steven Guilbeault, who has been Minister of Environment and Climate Change for a year, said “one of the advantages of a cap is emissions reduction certainty,” that is, a cap would allow the government to predict with some degree of accuracy that Canada’s emissions targets would be met. Canada is struggling to reduce its carbon output by at least 40 per cent by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The government wants the oil and gas industry to cut its emissions by 42 per cent from 2019′s levels by 2030. A modified carbon pricing system is the alternative t...

Richmond Lam /Tausi Insider The rocket launch from Cape Canaveral is scheduled for 2:35 p.m., and anyone with a vested interest—heck, anyone geeky enough to get excited about space—would be forgiven for being a tad nervous. Besides the weather, which can thwart a launch mere moments before liftoff, extraterrestrial travel, even when unmanned, is risky business. But at T-50 minutes, you’d never suspect that the Montreal party that’s gathered on this sunny late-May day to watch the SpaceX event in real time via video conference might be worried. Instead of nail-biting, the 70 or so staff from GHGSat and some of its suppliers—including astrophysicists, data analysts, quantum optics specialists and aerospace engineers in plaid shirts, jeans and sneakers—are busy chatting and laughing over beer and wine from the open bar. There’s a palpable sense of excitement. No wonder: When that rocket reaches orbit, it’ll deploy three satellites that these people have poured their minds and hearts int...

The European Union has agreed to add shipping to its carbon market for the first time, forcing vessels to pay for their planet-heating emissions and increasing pressure on the maritime sector to invest in greener technologies. The shipping sector has so far escaped the EU carbon market, which requires factories and power plants to buy permits when they emit carbon dioxide, providing a financial incentive to emit less. That is set to change from 2024, when shipping companies will have to buy EU carbon permits to cover 40 per cent of their emissions, rising to 70 per cent in 2025 and 100 per cent in 2026. “This will not only help the climate but also improve air pollution in cities close to rivers and the coast,” Peter Liese, lead EU lawmaker on the rules, said on Wednesday. The deal, agreed late on Tuesday by lawmakers and negotiators from the 27-country bloc, would add to the carbon market all carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen dioxide emissions from maritime voyages within the EU....

JPMorgan JPM-N said on Thursday it had set targets to cut emissions tied to its finance and deal making in the iron and steel, cement and aviation sectors, as those emissions linked to oil and gas usage rose. As the largest U.S. bank and major funder to the fossil fuel industry, investors and campaigners keenly watch JPMorgan’s climate efforts as the world shifts to a low-carbon economy. After releasing targets for oil and gas, electric power and autos in 2021, the new sector targets mean the bank now has plans to reduce emissions from all of the sectors most responsible for climate-damaging carbon emissions. For iron and steel, the bank said it aims to cut emissions per tonne of crude steel produced by 31 per cent by 2030. For cement it is targeting a 29 per cent cut and for aviation a cut of 36 per cent. The bank said all the targets were in line with the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero Emissions (NZE) scenario. Lucie Pinson, director of non-profit Reclaim Finance, welcomed ...

A Metro grocery store in Stouffville, Ont. on Jan 12. Fred Lum/Tausi Insider Metro Inc. MRU-T says it’s serious about addressing climate change. It has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 37.5 per cent from 2020 levels by 2035 – and that’s just one of the ways the Quebec-based grocery and drugstore chain is planning to deal with a threat it calls a systemic risk to society and the economy. But one investor advocacy group says Metro’s moves fall short, and that the grocer has not provided the necessary detail to show it can achieve what it is touting. That group, the Shareholder Association for Research and Education, or SHARE, has put a proposal on the ballot for Metro’s annual meeting this month that calls for an “enterprise-wide climate action plan” rich with details and timelines that outline how the company intends to meet science-based emissions targets. In its management proxy circular, Metro urges its investors to reject the proposal. Loblaw, Metro sales and prof...

Construction for an LNG Canada site in Kitimat, B.C., in September 2022. LNG Canada/Reuters Shell PLC’s LNG Canada export project in British Columbia plans to start building its proposed second phase with natural gas-powered turbines and switch to electricity as more renewable power becomes available, a top executive said, a decision that means the expansion project will initially generate high greenhouse gas emissions. LNG Canada, in which Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. owns a 15 per cent stake, is set to be Canada’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal. The first phase is expected to begin shipments around 2025. With global demand for natural gas from sources other than Russia accelerating after its invasion of Ukraine last year, LNG Canada is weighing whether to build by 2030 a second phase to double annual capacity to 28 million tonnes. LNG Canada now plans to initially build Phase 2 with natural gas-powered turbines and switch to electric motors as more power becomes avai...