(This is a summary of a story that you can read (for free) at Corporate Knights.)
My latest story for Corporate Knights covers yesterday's kickoff event for Toronto Climate Week.
When will Canada stop dawdling, stop kneeling to the oil companies, and actually engage with climate change?
Climate tech will be the biggest boom of the century. And Canada is still propping up oil and gas.
Here are the first four paragraphs of my story. Follow the link to read the rest.
(It gets better as it goes along.)
In her keynote speech at the flagship event, Diana Fox Carney called climate change “the biggest challenge of our lifetime” and said the movement’s task is to convince people “that a more climate-friendly future is not only possible, it’s the one everyone wants” – safer, more inclusive and more just. But subsequent speakers charged that Canada is backsliding on climate performance, weakening standards and putting its own zero-emission targets beyond reach.
Fox Carney is a well-known economist, policy expert and adviser on climate issues to global investors – and her husband is Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has faced criticism from environmental groups on his climate agenda thus far. The former central banker has been a powerful proponent of sustainable finance, but his response to growing global protectionism has been, in part, to unleash Canada’s fossil-fuel industries, roll back emissions caps and support new pipelines.
In her opening remarks, Fox Carney did note that economic concerns such as “security and affordability” have been edging out climate concerns. Nonetheless, she added, “we need a shared sense of purpose around these issues.” Climate champions need to act fast, she said, and offer “solutions that are affordable, practical and able to improve people’s lives now.”
Bonus! My favourite slide of the day. From Joannah Lawson, a principal with Climate Week platinum sponsor The Brian + Joannah Lawson Family Foundation.
