Pembina Institute Blogs

Toronto transit update: time to put down the felt pens and pick up the right plan (blog)

Graham Haines — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:13:48 +0000

Toronto City Council meets today to make a decision on the fate of the 2009 memorandum of agreement for the city’s former light rail plan. As councillors debate, we addressed some questions that have been circulating about the various transit options on the table for Toronto.

Helping Calgary meet its greenhouse gas emissions targets (blog)

Jesse Row — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:35:42 +0000

Recently, Calgary City Council voted overwhelmingly in favour of adopting its first citywide greenhouse gas plan. The plan aims to reduce the city’s emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, and 80 per cent by 2050, below 2005 levels and I’m thrilled to say that the Pembina Institute’s community services consulting group helped to write it.

Carbon pricing and Canada’s New West Partnership: An $8 billion opportunity (blog)

Matt Horne — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:28:30 +0000

The premiers of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan have pledged to meet with the federal government to discuss a national energy strategy and the related issue of regulating greenhouse gas emissions. Before that meeting happens, let’s examine their efforts to price carbon, a critical component of any cost-effective approach to dealing with climate change.

Mayor Ford’s Facebook page misinterprets Pembina’s transit analysis (blog)

Cherise Burda — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:09:23 +0000

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford claims on his Facebook page that the Pembina Institute’s 2011 analysis of Toronto transit options support his case for a Sheppard Subway. Although we are pleased to see that the Mayor appreciates our work, some of his points require clarification.

CLEAN power for cities combines economics with environment (blog)

Ben Thibault — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:06:52 +0000

Market access just one hurdle facing oilsands pipeline proponents (blog)

Nathan Lemphers — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:47:46 +0000

As the pipeline debate on this side of the border shifts to the fate of the Northern Gateway proposal, the U.S. government’s rejection of the Keystone project shows that Canada faces real barriers in getting oilsands to market — and, despite what some pundits say, those barriers are not just political.

U.S. decision on Keystone XL pipeline took climate consequences into account (blog)

Jennifer Grant — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:34:36 +0000

The Obama administration’s surprise decision to deny the proposed Keystone XL pipeline created quite the media storm yesterday, and for good reason.

In defending the decision, the president highlighted the risks the project could pose to “the health and safety of the American people and [to] the environment,” and the need to adequately review those concerns. And while a wide range of responses surfaced from the Republicans, Democrats, public opinion leaders and local interest groups, one story in particular caught our eye.

The truth about our funding (blog)

Ed Whittingham — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:01:20 +0000

An open letter from the Pembina Institute to Canadians

Dear friends,

As you may have noticed, the Harper government and the “Ethical Oil Inc” front group have been working to discredit groups like the Pembina Institute and our work on energy issues by claiming that we are a “foreign-funded,” “radical” organization advocating against the best interests of Canadians.

Allow us to set the record straight.

A provincial approach to regulating coal doesn’t mean the Feds are off the hook (blog)

P.J. Partington — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:31:22 +0000

The federal government has repeatedly touted its forthcoming regulations for coal-fired electricity as proof that it’s serious about climate change. It was therefore concerning to see reports from the Globe and Mail last week that suggest the government might “backtrack” on their coal regulations even before the final version has seen the light of day.

Canada’s Kyoto math doesn’t add up (blog)

Matt Horne — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:53:13 +0000

Yesterday afternoon, my colleagues and I were trying to make sense of the outcomes from the Durban, South Africa, climate change conference. Was it an exercise in deceit or did it offer some glimmer of hope? Before we could fully answer those questions, news broke that Canada was formally withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol. Just hours off the plane from Durban, Environment Minister Kent made the announcement that Canada would no longer be a party to the world’s only climate change treaty.

Attacks on environmental group supporters are disingenuous and disturbing (blog)

Ed Whittingham — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:41:37 +0000

Yesterday the reputation of the Pembina Institute and that of the British government was attacked in a column by Kathryn Marshall, a professional oilsands booster. It doesn’t seem too much to ask of someone who regularly writes commentary in the news media to do a little fact checking. However, this basic journalistic standard appears to have escaped Marshall, as her commentary repeats many misleading or downright false statements about the Pembina Institute and the nature of our work.

Shell's "too good to be true" environmental assessment leaves decision-makers relying on faulty data (blog)

Simon Dyer — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:13:16 +0000

Imagine you were considering getting a mortgage and your bank offered you a fixed interest rate at five per cent. You sign up, but when you go to make your first payment, the fine print states you are actually being charged 60 per cent interest. Would you feel cheated? Would you be able to handle a 12-fold spike in rates? And if you had realized the true cost, would you have signed those mortgage papers in the first place?

That's the situation facing a joint regulatory panel Alberta and Canada established to review the environmental impacts of the next massive 100,000 barrel-per-day oilsands mine, proposed by Shell north of Fort McMurray.

Raising the bar on the Gateway pipeline (blog)

Nathan Lemphers — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:30:17 +0000

With the U.S. Department of State's decision on the Keystone XL pipeline delayed until 2013, much of the attention in Canada has been shifting west towards Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline to the B.C. coast. After the Keystone XL announcement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was quick to threaten to ship oilsands crude to Asia — a point the Prime Minister will likely repeat when he meets with President Obama tomorrow.

Canada’s performance and positions in Durban (blog)

P.J. Partington — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:42:22 +0000

The second and final week of the UN climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa is now underway. In our view, a wealthy country such as Canada that is serious about reaching an agreement, would be doing three things. Let's take a look at where Canada stands on these points.

Climate confusion sequel heads straight to video (blog)

P.J. Partington — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:13:56 +0000

Yesterday, news broke that a batch of hacked e-mails from climate scientists at the University of East Anglia had been posted online. Sound familiar?

Keystone XL decision a reminder the customer is always right (blog)

Simon Dyer — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:02:24 +0000

Recommendations to weaken the B.C. carbon tax would be a step backwards (blog)

Matt Horne — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:48:39 +0000

Working on climate change issues can be challenging, especially when you compare what climate scientists say needs to be done with what politicians are (or are not) doing. Tuesday was a particularly challenging day. That's when the British Columbia Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services released 75 recommendations for the 2012 B.C. budget, five of which discuss B.C.'s carbon tax and cap-and-trade rules and convey little interest in building on the positive steps already taken to address climate change in the province.

B.C. paves the way for cleaner cars (blog)

Claire Beckstead — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:46:07 +0000

It's an exciting day for climate-conscious British Columbians as an important step has been taken to reduce the greenhouse gas pollution caused by burning gasoline and diesel in our cars.

Fuel for Change: Could Europe's fuel rules force Canada to clean up the oilsands? (blog)

Marc Huot — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:37:11 +0000

While Canada and Alberta are lobbying against the recent EU Commission decision to assign a specific value for bitumen, sending federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver to Paris and London last week to persuade the EU to rethink the directive, we believe that Europe should stand firm, for the following reasons.

Canada’s draft coal regulations: a half-hearted approach to climate change (blog)

P.J. Partington — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:19:24 +0000

One year, and several Ministers, after Jim Prentice's announcement that Canada would regulate emissions from coal-fired electricity generation, the draft rules have finally been published. We've looked through them in detail only to find that none of the major concerns we've raised in the past have been addressed. If the federal government is actually "serious about climate change" it needs to step up and significantly strengthen the proposed regulations for coal-fired power.