If you’re reading this on the web or someone forwarded this e-mail newsletter to you, you can sign up for Globe Climate and all Globe newsletters here.
Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.
A full-blown trade war with the United States is on hold for now, but the newly sparked “Buy Canada” sentiment endures. And while buying local, or at least closer to home, benefits the Canadian economy, it also tends to be better for the environment.
consumer’s guide to patriotic shopping. To help untangle the lingo, we’ve also got a guide for how to read labels on products in stores.
Happy shopping!
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
Noteworthy reporting this week:
Resources: Trump is firing up resource nationalism. But can Canada’s energy and mining sectors pivot away from the U.S.? Explained: What to know about the high stakes AI summit happening in Paris Oil and gas: Canada should discuss new east-west oil pipeline in wake of U.S. protectionism, Natural Resources Minister says Wildfires: A report sounds alarms about how demand for new real estate presses up against growing climate risks Technology: Robotic dogs, drones and microsatellites could be the future of fighting wildfires E-Bikes: Canada’s push for electric bikes gains speed, but lack of infrastructure leaves some riders behind Pipelines: Enbridge’s certificate expires for planned pipeline as B.C. strives for LNG exports to Asia From The Narwhal: W̱SÁNEĆ Hereditary Chiefs ‘deeply frustrated’ as feds boost commercial herring catchA deeper dive
Open this photo in gallery:Toby Stedham, vice-president of operations at Carbon Engineering, at its facility in Squamish, B.C. The company focuses on direct air capture technology.Tijana Martin/The Globe and Mail
Can this carbon capture project survive shifting politics?
Jeff Jones is the ESG and Sustainable Finance Reporter for The Globe. For this week’s deeper dive, he talks about carbon capture and politics after a visit to Squamish, B.C.
These are precarious times for climate tech.
Scientists, engineers, financial experts and bureaucrats have spent years devising ways to make a dent in the carbon emissions contributing to wilder and more destructive weather around the globe. Now, shifting political winds are threatening to slow down development and deployment of this technology.
Direct air capture, or DAC for short, is just one of the innovations whose prospects are murky.
Open this photo in gallery:Lab supervisor Kathleen Cruz adjusts the microscope at the Carbon Engineering facility in Squamish, B.C.Tijana Martin/The Globe and Mail
DAC involves mechanical and chemical processes for extracting and purifying CO2 from the atmosphere so it can be injected into geological formations or used to make synthetic fuels. Technology developed in Canada is now being installed in a US$1.3-billion plant being constructed in West Texas. When completed it will be the world’s largest such facility.
In January, I toured the research and development centre in Squamish, B.C., where the company that devised that technology, Carbon Engineering, is honing its methods. A lot has happened since I first visited the facility in the picturesque coastal town two years ago.
Carbon Engineering was acquired by Houston-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. in the summer of 2023, and since then it has intensified and expanded its efforts. That work is continuing as the Texas plant gets closer to starting up around the middle of this year.
But the return of U.S. President Donald Trump to the White House is raising questions about technology in the fight against climate change as he prepares to unravel many of the green investment programs his predecessor, Joe Biden, implemented.
Occidental, under its subsidiary called 1PointFive, is making use of some of those incentives in its current plant, and is counting on them for a far larger one it is planning in southern Texas, so it is watching and waiting. In November, Oxy’s chief executive officer Vicki Hollub trumpeted Carbon Engineering’s technological improvements, and how they will contribute to a more efficient DAC plant than she had previously bargained for.
Next week, the oil company is slated to host a conference call to discuss its 2024 financial results, and investors and climate-tech buffs alike will be laser-focused on Hollub’s assessment of what rising policy uncertainty means for future deployment of the Canadian technology in the United States.
You can read my feature here.
– Jeff
Open this photo in gallery:Calcium carbonate viewed through a microscope at the Carbon Engineering facility.Tijana Martin/The Globe and Mail
What else you missed
Trudeau says powering AI without compromising climate change is a G7 priority Energy experts question Chrystia Freeland’s pledge to push LNG Many of the world’s biggest polluting countries miss UN deadline to set new climate targets Alberta eyes Japan for new LNG deals amid U.S. tariff threat, Environment Minister says Earth sets another monthly heat record in January despite chilly U.S. temperatures, cooling La Niña Pacific Coast Highway reopens nearly a month after devastating Southern California wildfires Loon-like waterfowl from dinosaur-era Antarctica is oldest ‘modern’ bird Scientists hope tiny froglets from southern Chile can save the Darwin’s frogs speciesOpinion and analysis
Editorial board: Note to Mark Carney? There is no such thing as a free lunch for carbon costs
Green Investing
B.C. set to fast-track array of resource projects in bid to diversify economy amid U.S. tariff threats
speeding up approvals for permits and cutting red tape in general. The B.C. Premier’s office said the initial list includes Cedar LNG, a project that is under construction in Kitimat, with the goal to export liquefied natural gas to Asia. Cedar, which would have an annual export capacity of 3.3 million tonnes of LNG, is aiming to start shipping to Asia in late 2028.
Industry observers caution that gaining approvals from provincial and federal regulators does not guarantee that companies will forge ahead with major investments. For example, there has been a flurry of energy facilities approved over the past dozen years in B.C., but only one LNG project is near completion – LNG Canada’s export terminal in Kitimat. Ksi Lisims LNG, backed by the Nisga’a Nation, is undergoing an environmental review, including on climate impact.
The Climate Exchange
next chapter of The Climate Exchange, an interactive, digital hub where The Globe answers your most pressing questions about climate change. More than 300 questions were submitted as of September. The first batch of answers tackles 30 of them. They can be found with the help of a search tool developed by The Globe that makes use of artificial intelligence to match readers’ questions with the closest answer drafted. We plan to answer a total of 75 questions.
Photo of the week
Open this photo in gallery:A worker at agritech start-up Niqo Robotics rides a tractor equipped with an AI-powered spot sprayer at a testing facility on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India. Much of country’s vast agricultural economy (employing more than 45 per cent of the workforce) remains deeply traditional, and is beset by problems made worse by extreme weather driven by climate change. But while AI tech is blossoming, take-up among farmers is slow because many can’t afford it.-/AFP/Getty Images
Guides and Explainers
Catch up on Globe Climate
We want to hear from you. Email us: [email protected]. Do you know someone who needs this newsletter? Send them to our Newsletters page.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Globe Climate: Canadian clean tech versus U.S. politics )
Also on site :
- Chipotle is Giving Away Free Burritos for An Entire Year—Here's How to Win
- Drowning’s the No. 1 killer of young children — from Orange to Pasadena, experts are trying to change that
- 'Top Chef' Season 22 Episode 12 Elimination Results: Who Was Sent Home This Week?