Le Billon: "For Alberta and Canada ... the lesson is clear: economic diversification is no longer optional; it’s an urgent necessity. Betting on sustained high oil prices has always been risky; betting on them in a world of messy energy transition is increasingly untenable." tinyurl.com/337tvep7

Happy New Year, before and after.

The claim of profits rests on an accounting trick that ignores Trans Mountain's massive debt payments. Great reporting by @zoeyunker.bsky.social via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/Analysis/202...

Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵 Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...

The most troubling thing about the 2025 Progress Report on Canada's climate plan is that the govt is effectively substituting a target 25 yrs off for a commitment, or even efforts beyond those underway, to meet the 2030 and 2035 targets. Pretend targets were the norm for 25 yrs; it didn't go well.

Canada's Net Zero Emissions Accountability Act requires that the Minister establish a 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan and publish progress reports in 2023, 2025 and 2027. (There are also req's >2030.) The 2025 report is now posted on ECCC's website. What's it say? 🧵 www.canada.ca/content/dam/...

Serious question: did Environment and Climate Change Canada just release a 250+ pg legally-mandated report on Canada's progress toward its climate targets without a media release? I don't see one, or any news stories. Found report 4 levels down on ECCC's website. www.canada.ca/content/dam/...

$50/tonne of CO2eq yet Alberta's highly-profitable oil and gas industry needs another 5 years to comply? www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...

John Horgan's memoir on BC's opposition to the last pipeline. This sentence perfectly captures Cdn govts' view of oil/gas exports: "It was not so much the pipeline but all those tankers going through Burrard Inlet that concerned us." Downstream combustion? Not our problem. thetyee.ca/Culture/2025...

Happy birthday to Jane Austen, and to this very on-brand Economist chart www.economist.com/christmas-sp...

Happy 250th birthday to Jane Austen. With no ball to attend, I shall stay at home for real comfort, celebrating by watching Sense and Sensibility (and maybe also Clueless) with my girl and eating some excellent boiled potatoes.

After writing my undergraduate class' exam yesterday, I had a nightmare last night that I was writing an exam and running out of time. Students -- enjoy a wee bit of satisfaction. It says a lot about how stressful exams are that after four decades that dream still felt real.

BC is squandering its #EV advantage by rolling back targets to match Ottawa's slower pace. “It’s very difficult to be a leader when you put yourself in the middle of the pack.” Richard Ivity, board chair, national EV Society #bcpoli #cdnpoli #climateaction www.nationalobserver.com/2025/12/09/a...

The Ottawa-Alberta MoU is a backslide on methane goals. That delay adds 1.9M tonnes of methane, roughly half the annual pollution created by the cars on Canada’s roads. Alberta is already behind on methane — and now it has permission to fall further behind➡️ buff.ly/qriG0i3

HahahHa

BC's 2025 Climate Accountability report is out. There's good news: more heat pumps, renewable diesel, GHGs down a bit and expectation that will continue. But BC expects to see only 1/3 of reductions to meet its 2030 target. I fear that's over-optimistic for 2 reasons.🧵 www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/e...

“We can’t all be expected to bike.” Fair. But that’s not the point. “Not everyone can or wants to bike. But some people can & do—and they deserve a safe, efficient, affordable way to move through the city. It’s about freedom of choice.” This & other useful comebacks, in @momentummag.bsky.social.

Respect. And gratitude to Simon for his work on NZAB.

Only in Canada. A deal that will increase oil production and weaken climate policy is good for climate because: - oil producers didn't like those pesky climate policies, and - the economic benefits of "any" incremental emissions from 1.4 Mb/d is worth it. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...

This basket where we are putting our eggs is looking iffy... LNG Glut Begins to Bite as Asian Buyers Reduce Imports www.theenergymix.com/lng-glut-beg...

@greenprofgreen.bsky.social and I reflect on #COP30's failure to even mention fossil fuels. In its silence Canada hides behind petro-states like Saudi Arabia and Russia. It's time to join more constructive fossil fuel producers in a coalition of the willing. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/12/02/o...

Musings on the CleanBC Independent Review Panel Report. #1: huge thanks to @danwoy.bsky.social and Merran Smith for combining their deep knowledge and a huge effort to produce a report with essential and detailed advice for BC. I'm supportive overall, with quibbles. engage.gov.bc.ca/app/uploads/...

Guilbeault's resignation letter (from post on X):

WOW! It was a beau risque for an environmentalist like Guilbeault to go into politics. Interesting that he's reportedly still planning to stay in the Liberal caucus, perhaps more willing to test the limits of party discipline than the Cabinet solidarity convention.

BC needs to expand electricity to meet its climate targets and prosper in the economy of the future. BC Hydro's not planning on that. BCUC is authorized but not required to plan for that. The BC govt must close that loop! Great piece by @zoeyunker.bsky.social @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/Analysis/202...

1st rate trolling by LATAM airlines for its #COP30 passengers to/from Belém! Bittersweet, but hit the spot.

As delegates depart COP30 the path is lined with police standing beside fire extinguishers. I don’t think there’s another fire! Seems unlikely it’s performance art. ??

Extraordinary development in COP30 plenary. President gavelled all decisions quickly, without looking up. Now many countries complaining that they had raised flags but were ignored. President keeps repeating "concerns will be noted in report."

The gang's all here awaiting COP leadership for final(?) plenary. Still no text for Mutirão/cover decision. Will there be consensus on a Roadmap to "transition away from fossil fuels"? While an adaptation finance for Roadmap compromise is plausible for dev'g countries, petrostates could block.

10:30 pm on the (nominal) last night of #cop30. No new texts since 3 am, no plenary since 1 pm, no announcements. A crowd is gathered outside the COP Presidency office waiting for … something.

UN secretary-general António Guterres has identified Saudi Arabia as leading moves to block key outcomes at the #Cop30 climate summit, the Financial Times has reported - he also identified some developed countries’ opposition to adaptation funding pledges #climatecrisis www.ft.com/content/edf7...

My latest with @simondonner.bsky.social: "As Canada scrambles to diversify its exports, fossil fuels are an increasingly risky bet, not least with taxpayers’ money. And we should not kid ourselves: it is also a bet on global failure to address climate change" www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/21/o...

Coal or biomass to olefins - I.e., plastic from coal instead of naphtha or ethane, another nail in the coffin of long run crude oil demand @markhamhislop.bsky.social amp.scmp.com/news/china/s...

Tomorrow should be exciting at #COP30. Cop30: dozens of countries threaten to block resolution unless it contains roadmap to fossil fuel phase-out

Took an uber to the waterfront while waiting for the #COP30 venue to re-open post-fire. This was hanging on the back of the driver’s seat. Hope next passenger is a fossil fuel lobbyist.

For those who know I’m at COP30, I am safe. I sure hope everyone is.

Has there ever been a better-timed academic book? The incredible @amyjanzwood.bsky.social's book on the politics of pipelines in Canada is published today. And there's even a free e-book! www.ubcpress.ca/mega-pipelin...

BC is not just ceding its leadership on EVs, but arguing against provincial leadership. Passing the buck on incentives (up to the feds) and wrt regulations "there should be one clear, harmonized sales target for the country to provide clarity..." www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/18/n...

"BC redrawing EV sales mandate, scraps adoption goal and leaves rebates to Feds," in so doing, rejecting advise of the provincial government's Climate Solutions Council July 2025 advice (www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/...) www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/18/n...

Ouch! Last time Canada received the fossil of the day award from CAN-international at COP was 2014, when Stephen Harper was PM.

A coalition of countries from global north and global south are calling for a commitment to a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels (following on COP28) in the #COP30 final text. Powerful speeches at a press conference this afternoon in Belém. #fossilfuels

COP30 Pavilion of pacific Island states. It did rain really hard here in Belém…

Thunder loudly echoing in the #COP30 high level plenary. Nature is angry!

Lots of petrostate pavillions at #COP30. Saudi Arabia, Russia, UAE, Kuwait, Canada are top 10 oil producers. All have net zero pledges, yet none have joined >60 countries calling for a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels. Net zero for me but not for the countries that import my oil and gas!

Can #Cop30 begin the process of phasing out fossil fuels? - Ending use of coal, oil and gas is essential in tackling #climatecrisis – but even talking about it is controversial www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Great piece on Saudi Arabia's obstruction of international climate negotiations including ongoing debate at #COP30 on "transition away from fossil fuels." The Saudi strategy to export as much oil as possible to fund transition of their economy is familiar to Cdns. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Vancouver RISEs!!

In its latest podcast episode, to be broadcast tomorrow, CBC’s What on Earth show interviews Canada’s Environment and Climate Minister Julie Dabrusin and me. Why I am stubbornly optimistic going into #cop30…. www.cbc.ca/listen/live-... www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

I did CBC radio interviews on the implications of this week's Government of Canada budget for climate. Link below to the Vancouver On the Coast program segment (November 5). www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Hot takes on climate implications of the 2025 Cdn budget. On one hand, lots of emphasis on investment in the low-carbon economy of the future, and using GHG reductions/$ as a standard for public investments. On the other, embrace of and subsidies for LNG as clean energy. \1