Canada’s leading environmental groups have called on Environment Minister Rona Ambrose to resign as chair of the UN climate change process now that the federal government has abandoned the Kyoto Protocol. The Harper government has said it won’t live up to the Kyoto Protocol and has begun dismantling Canada’s climate change programs.

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Members of the Canadian Climate Action Network called on all parties in Parliament to stop the federal government from running away from its international commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Despite Prime Minister Harper’s conviction that "we don’t [back away from commitments] and we will not, as long as I’m leading this country," his government has cut key programs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, jeopardizing years of federal climate change efforts.

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A Quick-Start Energy-Efficiency Strategy for Ontario, a report published in April by The Pembina Institute, outlines in detail how Ontario can apply proven approaches from leading U.S. states such as California, Vermont and New York to dramatically reduce the province’s need for new electricity supplies. The report presents a strategy to reduce electricity demand in Ontario by 4500 MW by 2012 through energy efficiency and cogeneration.

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Action is needed to stem the huge demand for water used to extract bitumen from oil sands, concludes our report Troubled Waters, Troubling Trends. The report details the seriousness of water demand in the oil sands industry backed by never-before-reported statistics on the use of water.

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Download the report summary.

An Ontario Highway 404 extension announced in the Ontario budget tabled March 23 threatens the newly-established Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt and will promote sprawling urban development of agricultural and natural heritage lands.

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Sip a Cup of "Wind-Powered Coffee" at Good Earth Café
Good Earth Coffeehouse and Bakery, located in Calgary, calculated all energy use of coffee brewers, coffee grinders and espresso machines per year, and purchased renewable energy certificates equal to that amount from The Pembina Institute’s Wind Power Program.

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Leading the Wind-Powered Way: Five Winds International
Five Winds International, a small management consulting firm, walks the environmental talk with their new Sustainable Purchasing Initiative. The initiative includes policies to purchase wind power equal to the company’s greenhouse gas emissions from travel and office energy use.

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An 8-page summary highlights key issues and solutions to water use in the oil sands industry. The full report (171 pages) details the seriousness of the issue, backed by never-before-reported statistics on the use of water in the oil sands industry.

This 8-page backgrounder provides a series of statements by ministers and revelations of funding cuts that add up to an abandonment of Canada’s Kyoto obligation. It then lays out ten federal priority actions that, if initiated immediately, can put Canada back on the path to meet its Kyoto targets.

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This 49-page report outlines a Quick-Start energy-efficiency strategy for Ontario. Drawing on the experience in the U.S. with successful state-level energy efficiency programs, the report outlines three cross-cutting initiatives and nine specific programs to be undertaken in Ontario, and a strategy to reduce electricity demand in Ontario by 4500 MW by 2012 through energy efficiency and cogeneration.

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This book, first released for sale in 2003, is now available free of charge. It is a guide for landowners and others in dealing with coalbed methane development. The Alberta government has started making some changes to regulations, but much of the information in the report is still relevant today. A list of questions helps landowners ask companies and government about projects that affect them.

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by Marlo Reynolds

What was Premier Ralph Klein thinking when he announced that 50% of Alberta's electricity is produced using "clean coal"... Read the full article.

by Amy Taylor

Ralph Klein says he has planted the seeds of prosperity for future generations, but in a quest to liquidate the province's finite oil and gas resources, the provincial government is shortchanging Albertans and putting the environment at risk... Read the full article.

by Mary Griffiths

The incredible boom in coalbed methane – 3,500 wells drilled by the end of 2004 and close to 7,000 by the end of 2005 – has some rural Albertans concerned about their water supplies... Read the full article.