The Energy Mix

Top Menu

  • About
  • Latest Digest/Archive
  • Partners
  • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Contact

Main Menu

  • News Archive by Category
    • Climate & Society
      • Carbon Levels & Measurement
      • Carbon-Free Transition
      • Climate Action/”Blockadia”
      • Climate Denial & Greenwashing
      • Climate Policy/Meetings/Negotiations
      • Culture, Curiosities, & Humour
      • Demographics
      • Energy Politics
      • Energy Subsidies
      • Energy/Carbon Pricing & Economics
      • Finance & Investment
      • First Peoples
      • Insurance & Liability
      • International Agencies & Studies
      • Jobs & Training
      • Legal & Regulatory
      • Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion
      • Methane
      • Travel, Leisure & Recreation
    • Climate Impacts & Adaptation
      • Biodiversity & Habitat
      • Drought, Famine & Wildfires
      • Food Security
      • Forests & Deforestation
      • Health & Safety
      • Heat & Temperature
      • Human Rights & Migration
      • Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise
      • International Security & War
      • Severe Storms & Flooding
      • Soil & Natural Sequestration
      • Water
    • Demand & Distribution
      • Air & Marine
      • Auto & Alternative Vehicles
      • Batteries/Storage
      • Buildings
      • Cities
      • Electricity Grid
      • Energy Access & Equity
      • Off-Grid
      • Petrochemicals & Plastics
      • Supply Chains & Consumption
      • Transit
      • Walking & Biking
    • Jurisdictions
      • Africa
      • Arctic & Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • Brazil
      • Canada
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • International
      • Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America
      • Middle East
      • Oceans
      • Small Island States
      • South & Central America
      • Sub-National Governments
      • United States
    • Non-Renewable Energy
      • CCS & Negative Emissions
      • Coal
      • Nuclear
      • Oil & Gas
      • Pipelines/Rail Transport
      • Shale & Fracking
      • Tar Sands/Oil Sands
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Renewable Energy
      • Bioenergy
      • Demand & Efficiency
      • General Renewables
      • Geothermal
      • Hydrogen
      • Hydropower
      • Research & Development
      • Solar
      • Wave & Tidal
      • Wind
  • Special Reports
    • Alberta’s Bitumen Pipe Dream
    • Canada’s Drive to Net Zero
    • Carbon Farming
    • City and Sub-National Action
    • Drawdown
    • Drive to 1.5
    • 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada
    • America’s Electoral Climate 2020
    • Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019
    • The Energy Mix Yearbook 2018
      • Climate Extremes
      • Fossils Go For Broke
      • Renewables (R)Evolution
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Canada’s Contradiction
      • COP24
      • Pipeline Politics
      • Jobs and Just Transition
      • Cities and Sub-Nationals
      • Finance and Divestment
      • Climate Litigation
  • Webinars & Podcasts
  • About
  • Latest Digest/Archive
  • Partners
  • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Donate

logo

  • News Archive by Category
    • Climate & Society
      • Carbon Levels & Measurement
      • Carbon-Free Transition
      • Climate Action/”Blockadia”
      • Climate Denial & Greenwashing
      • Climate Policy/Meetings/Negotiations
      • Culture, Curiosities, & Humour
      • Demographics
      • Energy Politics
      • Energy Subsidies
      • Energy/Carbon Pricing & Economics
      • Finance & Investment
      • First Peoples
      • Insurance & Liability
      • International Agencies & Studies
      • Jobs & Training
      • Legal & Regulatory
      • Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion
      • Methane
      • Travel, Leisure & Recreation
    • Climate Impacts & Adaptation
      • Biodiversity & Habitat
      • Drought, Famine & Wildfires
      • Food Security
      • Forests & Deforestation
      • Health & Safety
      • Heat & Temperature
      • Human Rights & Migration
      • Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise
      • International Security & War
      • Severe Storms & Flooding
      • Soil & Natural Sequestration
      • Water
    • Demand & Distribution
      • Air & Marine
      • Auto & Alternative Vehicles
      • Batteries/Storage
      • Buildings
      • Cities
      • Electricity Grid
      • Energy Access & Equity
      • Off-Grid
      • Petrochemicals & Plastics
      • Supply Chains & Consumption
      • Transit
      • Walking & Biking
    • Jurisdictions
      • Africa
      • Arctic & Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • Brazil
      • Canada
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • International
      • Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America
      • Middle East
      • Oceans
      • Small Island States
      • South & Central America
      • Sub-National Governments
      • United States
    • Non-Renewable Energy
      • CCS & Negative Emissions
      • Coal
      • Nuclear
      • Oil & Gas
      • Pipelines/Rail Transport
      • Shale & Fracking
      • Tar Sands/Oil Sands
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Renewable Energy
      • Bioenergy
      • Demand & Efficiency
      • General Renewables
      • Geothermal
      • Hydrogen
      • Hydropower
      • Research & Development
      • Solar
      • Wave & Tidal
      • Wind
  • Special Reports
    • Alberta’s Bitumen Pipe Dream
    • Canada’s Drive to Net Zero
    • Carbon Farming
    • City and Sub-National Action
    • Drawdown
    • Drive to 1.5
    • 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada
    • America’s Electoral Climate 2020
    • Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019
    • The Energy Mix Yearbook 2018
      • Climate Extremes
      • Fossils Go For Broke
      • Renewables (R)Evolution
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Canada’s Contradiction
      • COP24
      • Pipeline Politics
      • Jobs and Just Transition
      • Cities and Sub-Nationals
      • Finance and Divestment
      • Climate Litigation
  • Webinars & Podcasts
Advanced Search
Arctic & AntarcticaBiodiversity & HabitatCanadaClimate & SocietyClimate Denial & GreenwashingClimate Impacts & AdaptationFinance & InvestmentFirst PeoplesFood SecurityHealth & SafetyJurisdictionsLegal & RegulatoryNon-Renewable EnergyOil & GasSub-National Governments
Home›Jurisdictions›Arctic & Antarctica›Canada’s Net-Zero Framework May Be Too Little, Too Late for the North

Canada’s Net-Zero Framework May Be Too Little, Too Late for the North

January 15, 2021
January 15, 2021
 
36
0
Share:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  Print This Story
Kai Boggild/Imaggeo

Empty rhetoric, ignorance, vested interests, and systemic racism—all persisting even as the climate crisis melts away the life-sustaining Arctic ice—may well mean that any achievement in Canada’s 2050 net-zero target will come too late for those who call the North home.

Making up 40% of Canada’s land mass and home to 100,000 mostly Indigenous people, the Canadian Arctic is a region in acute distress, writes iPolitics. And politicians, in particular, need to be doing more walking and less talking on climate action in the North.

Like this story? Subscribe to The Energy Mix and never miss an edition of our free e-digest.

SUBSCRIBE

Unveiled shortly before the 2019 federal election, the Liberal Party’s 10-year, C$700-million Arctic and Northern Policy Framework promised a renaissance for Canada’s north, thanks to investment in communications, energy, research, and transportation. It also vowed to “face the effects of climate change and support healthy ecosystems in the Arctic and North,” and to “advance reconciliation and improve relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples,” recalls iPolitics.

And even then, the steep challenge would have been evident to the Liberals. The news story cites a 2019 federal report confirming the Arctic to be warming “at about three times the global average rate,” a terrifying change that was clearly “affecting the land, biodiversity, cultures, and tradition.”

As for what those government research dollars bought the Arctic and its peoples, well, the kindest word might be “incoherence.” Citing a November interview with Northern Affairs Minister Daniel Vandal, iPolitics notes that even as Ottawa earmarks $550,000 to spend on two Nunavut data collection projects—planned, in the minister’s own words, to “better understand Canada’s coastal environment and how we can protect it”—it continues to explore “whether or not to lift a five-year moratorium on new oil and gas development in the North in 2021.” 

Transportation in the Arctic is certainly an urgent issue, said Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK). He told iPolitics that melting sea ice has made journeys “unpredictable, if not impossible,” a reality that makes activities like fishing and hunting very dangerous, if they can be done at all. “Many Canadians don’t understand how our homeland is in flux,” he said. 

As for energy investment in the North, Obed panned Ottawa’s effort to help the region go low-carbon, calling it contradictory in light of the government’s continued investment in fossil fuels there. 

“The south needs to get serious about climate change, and governments must do more,” said Obed, adding that Ottawa needs to translate its talk on reconciliation into meaningful action in the 51 communities ITK represents. His constituents face serious food insecurity, and lag far behind their counterparts in the south in access to quality health care, housing, and Internet connectivity. He said racism is largely to blame. 

Assessing the state of Canada’s climate ambitions, Andrew Chater of the London-based Polar Research and Policy Initiative said simply that the country is “not on track.” 

And even if the government achieves its net-zero goals by 2050? “This is too late for the North,” he told iPolitics.

TagsCanada Net Zero - Action PracticeEnergy Central - Energy Collective
Share:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  Print This Story

Find more stories about
Arctic & AntarcticaBiodiversity & HabitatCanadaClimate & SocietyClimate Denial & GreenwashingClimate Impacts & AdaptationFinance & InvestmentFirst PeoplesFood SecurityHealth & SafetyJurisdictionsLegal & RegulatoryNon-Renewable EnergyOil & GasSub-National Governments

    Leave a reply Cancel reply

    Recent Posts

    • ‘Red Alert for Planet’ as UN Report Projects Only 0.5% Emissions Cut by 2030
      ‘Red Alert for Planet’ as UN Report Projects Only 0.5% Emissions Cut by 2030
      March 1, 2021
    • Lookback: Anjali Appadurai Speaks for ‘Silent Majority’ at COP 17
      Lookback: Anjali Appadurai Speaks for ‘Silent Majority’ at COP 17
      March 1, 2021
    • B.C. Pushes Forward with Site C Hydro Megaproject Despite $16-Billion Price Tag
      B.C. Pushes Forward with Site C Hydro Megaproject Despite $16-Billion Price Tag
      March 1, 2021
    • RBC Adds $500 Billion to Sustainable Funds, Faces Mounting Pressure for Fossil Investments
      RBC Adds $500 Billion to Sustainable Funds, Faces Mounting Pressure for Fossil Investments
      March 1, 2021
    • ‘Future Belongs to Renewables’ as Norwegian Wealth Fund Blacklists Four Alberta Fossils
      ‘Future Belongs to Renewables’ as Norwegian Wealth Fund Blacklists Four Alberta Fossils
      March 1, 2021

    News Feed

    Top News

    • Alberta Budget Makes ‘No Provision’ for Keystone Cancellation
      February 28, 2021
    • GM Unveils Retooled, Less Expensive Chevy Bolt
      February 28, 2021

    Read More

    Carbon-Free Transition

    • GM Unveils Retooled, Less Expensive Chevy Bolt
      February 28, 2021
    • Battery Technology Funding ‘Exploded’ in 2020
      February 28, 2021

    Read More

    Canada

    • Alberta Budget Makes ‘No Provision’ for Keystone Cancellation
      February 28, 2021
    • Sask First Nations Rally Behind Community in Fight Against Uranium Firm
      February 28, 2021

    Read More

    U.S.

    • Empire State Building to Run on 100% Renewables
      February 28, 2021
    • Minnesota Governor Sets 2040 Carbon-Free Power Target
      February 28, 2021

    Read More

    International

    • Climate Figures Prominently in German State Elections This Month
      February 28, 2021
    • Spanish Broadband Firms Tap In to Solar
      February 28, 2021

    Read More

    • About the Energy Mix
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy and Copyright
    Copyright 2020 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.