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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.
Let’s start off with three stories focused on animals, that aren’t all dismal news.
First off, a walrus calf was found alone and miles from the ocean on Alaska’s North Slope, but is being bottle fed and receiving round-the-clock “cuddling” from doting animal welfare workers who are trying to keep the one-month-old baby alive.
Second, you might have seen on social media that visitors are thronging a zoo in China after a video of one of its bears went viral with some netizens suggesting she looked so human that she might be a staff member in a bear suit.
Lastly, animals at the Attica Zoological Park outside the Athens were being fed frozen meals as temperatures around Greece reached 40 C and were set to rise further, in the fourth heat wave in less than a month.
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
A ring-tailed lemur licks a fruit popsicle, at the Attica Zoological Park in Spata suburb, eastern Athens.Thanassis Stavrakis/The Associated Press
Noteworthy reporting this week:
- Technology: How artificial intelligence can help detect and fight wildfires in Canada
- Doug Saunders opinion: Climate-change pain is finally hitting home – by way of our wallets
- Extreme weather: A ‘fire-breathing dragon of clouds’: These are Canada’s wildfire-induced super storms
- Wildfires: As emissions from wildfires soar, is the best way to protect forests more human intervention?
- Energy: Manitoba Hydro expects electricity demand to double over next two decades
- Listen to The Decibel: Remote Indigenous communities are the people most affected by wildfire smoke
- Analysis from The Narwhal: Footprints in the sand: what you don’t know can really hurt the Great Lakes’ fragile dunes
A deeper dive
Alberta to pause new solar and wind power projects
Emma Graney is energy reporter for The Globe and Mail. For this week’s deeper dive, she talks about a sudden policy change in Alberta that is causing frustration among renewable energy companies.
“We got screwed.”
That was Mike Lambros’s blunt assessment of Alberta’s decision last week to pause all approvals for wind and solar power projects until March. Mr. Lambros is the founder and CEO of Texas-based Proteus Power Developments LLC, which is well into the application process to build three solar farms in the province.
Proteus has already spent millions of dollars on its plans. A clearly frustrated Mr. Lambros said he had no inkling that the government was considering a pause on approvals; less than 24 hours before the announcement, the Alberta Utilities Commission had even asked him for more documents to support his application. Several companies with wind and solar applications in the pipeline told me similar stories.
The decision completely blindsided industry. Even the Canada Renewable Energy Association, CanREA, was only informed of the moratorium after it was made public.
The governing United Conservative Party purports to champion the free market and private enterprise. That makes its choice to throttle one specific sector even more puzzling for industry watchers in a province where – unlike others, including Ontario – renewables investment has surged without the assistance of taxpayer dollars. They say bringing development to a screeching halt will irreparably damage investor confidence in the province; after all, if there’s one thing investors hate, it’s uncertainty – particularly in the form of arbitrary policy decisions.
New renewable projects worth nearly $4.7-billion have been built in Alberta since 2019, and 2023 was on track to be a record year, according to the Business Renewables Centre-Canada. Alberta’s Affordability and Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf told me that that lightning pace has led to concerns in rural parts of the province where development has flourished.
Rural municipalities are worried about who will bear the cost of clean-up when a wind farm is decommissioned, that prime agricultural land is being used for solar panels rather than crops or grazing, and that renewables regulations have failed to keep up with the pace of development.
CanREA acknowledges those conversations should happen, but argues there’s no need to halt development to do so.
Mr. Neudorf admitted a policy review could have happened without the pause – in fact, that was an option considered by government – but he said he didn’t want developers “looking over their shoulder for when we’re going to change the policy, and are they going to get caught off-guard.”
The policy review is due to wrap up by the end of February. Industry is hopeful for no further delays.
- Emma
Workers put up solar panels at the construction site of the Canada’s biggest solar farm Travers Solar, near Vulcan, Alberta, November 9, 2021.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
What else you missed
- Wildfire impact on B.C. tourism varies by region, proximity and visibility of flames
- Researchers call for storm-resistant measures in provincial building codes
- As climate disasters increase, Nova Scotia volunteer firefighters need more financial help
- Solar panel recycling industry taking shape in North America amid ‘tsunami’ of waste
- Discovery of whale carcass in Hong Kong sparks anger over the potential damage done by sightseers
- Clothiers bet on ‘cooling’ fabrics as global temperatures rise
- Pledge to plant 2 billion trees lofty but attainable, Natural Resources Minister says
- Manitoba Environment Minister says he is Métis, on a personal journey about his family
- California high court says county can’t enforce oil well ban as state debates future of fossil fuels
- Greenpeace protesters cover British PM Rishi Sunak’s private home in black fabric
- EU attempt to tax polluting aviation fuel hits impasse
Opinion and analysis
The editorial board: The summer that climate heating metastasized
Tom Rachman: There’s a special place in hell for politicians who fail us on the climate crisis
Gary Mason: The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is a disaster for everyone but Alberta
Charlotte Gill: With campfire bans, we are losing a ritual as old as human civilization
Jane George: Canada’s plentiful access to fresh water is an illusion in Iqaluit
Peter Singer: The coming disruption of animal production
Green Investing
Algonquin Power was a go-to green stock. Now, it faces pressure to jettison its clean energy assets
After Arun Banskota delivered Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.’s first-quarter results on May 11, the chief executive officer faced far more scrutiny over the company’s green future than its recent financial performance. For years, Algonquin had combined three attributes that made it a popular stock with investors: strong growth from delivering regulated electricity, water and natural gas; clean power generation from wind, solar and hydroelectricity; and a consistently rising dividend with a fat yield that rivalled banks.
The previous six months had marked a difficult period for the company. But the biggest decision, by far, is still coming: Algonquin announced in May that it may sell its renewable power business and become a stand-alone regulated utility.
- Eight Insurers with attractive dividends that can weather climate change
- Extreme weather risk changing Canada’s insurance industry, raising costs
- Many jobs will evolve to incorporate ‘green skills.’ Canada’s success depends on understanding this
Making waves
Each week The Globe profiles a Canadian making a difference, but we are taking a little break for the rest of summer. We’ll be back to showing off everyone’s great work in a few weeks.
Do you know an engaged individual? Someone who represents the real engines pursuing change in the country? E-mail us at GlobeClimate@globeandmail.com to tell us about them.
Photo of the week
Pickers harvest Albillo Real white grapes in Las Moradas vineyard at dawn, to avoid the high temperature, in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, Madrid province, on August 3, 2023. This year the harvest is unsually early due to the warmer weather.OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP/Getty Images
Guides and Explainers
- Want to learn to invest sustainably? We have a class for that: Green Investing 101 newsletter course for the climate-conscious investor. Not sure you need help? Take our quiz to challenge your knowledge.
- We’ve rounded up our reporters’ content to help you learn about what a carbon tax is and just generally how Canada will change because of climate change.
- We have ways to make your travelling more sustainable and if you like to read, here are books to help the environmentalist in you grow, as well as a downloadable e-book of Micro Skills - Little Steps to Big Change.
Catch up on Globe Climate
- Can Tuvalu be saved for future generations?
- Cowboys confront the threat of climate change
- This lake shows when humans started changing the planet
- Is Canada’s waste management system trash?
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