By Juan Vargas Alba

With President Biden’s upcoming visit to Ottawa, I wonder if Prime Minister Trudeau might be a bit embarrassed. After all, the historic Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S. includes “unprecedented investments to tackle climate change.” Meanwhile, the European Union recently introduced a proposal to encourage clean energy and climate investments. Canada hasn’t even entered this race to the top for net zero.

by Seth Klein

Most young people know — the climate crisis is coming for them. One way or another, on their terms or not, it's going to enlist them. It won't ask their permission. Best to take pre-emptive action on one’s own terms. A Youth Climate Corps (YCC) would represent an invitation to Canada’s youth to mobilize to confront today’s gravest threat: the climate emergency. It could be a new flagship public program and, funded at sufficient scale, would send an electrifying signal. It would indicate our governments are indeed entering genuine emergency mode and would communicate to young people that they are being called to join in a grand societal transformation.

by Seth Klein

Emergency responses need to look and sound and feel like emergency responses. Emergencies require that leaders tell the truth about the severity of the crisis and what is required to combat it — frequently, consistently and coherently. Yet, nothing about the climate communications we currently hear and see comes close to approximating such an invitation. The current official communications (or lack thereof) is producing a form of cognitive dissonance — is this an emergency or not? That confusion needs to end. We need a new, well-resourced climate communications agency — a Climate Emergency Information Board.

By Anjali Appadurai

The new year opened with a significant step forward for Canadian climate policy as the Glasgow Statement takes effect. Canada signed onto the policy, which promises to end international public support for the oil and gas industry, with an accompanying pledge to tackle the much higher domestic support for the industry by mid-2023.

By Anjali Appadurai

It’s the season of giving, of family and connection and generosity. It’s also the aftermath of yet another lukewarm UN climate COP and another year of inadequate climate policy — and it’s a strange mix of these themes that I’m reflecting on as I consider what climate action must look like in the year to come.

As Premier Eby settles into his new role, some important changes appear to be afoot, reflected in both the language being used and the people being appointed to key roles. Last week, this was most apparent with the unveiling of Eby’s new cabinet and in the mandate letters given to new ministers. This piece digs into the choices and mandate letters of cabinet members Josie Osborne, Bowinn Ma, Niki Sharma and Brenda Bailey.

By Stewart Phillip, Peter McCartney, Seth Klein, Tracey Saxby, Alexandra Woodsworth, Kiki Wood, John T. Young, Jens Wieting

Opinion: To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we must stop building coal, oil and gas projects.

On November 21, 2002, CEU team lead Seth Klein was invited to be a witness before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research, as part of their study of “International Moonshot Programs.” Here’s his testimony…

By Seth Klein

I had a rather unique, and sometimes stressful, vantage point on the BC NDP leadership contest. Both Dave Eby and Anjali Appadurai are my longtime friends. I’ve known Dave since his early days with Pivot Legal in the Downtown Eastside. Our families have spent holiday time together and have shared in celebrating major life events. I’ve known and worked with Anjali for over 10 years, and we are currently colleagues at the Climate Emergency Unit. I am very fond of them both and want to share a little about what I admire about each of them. And I here I offer some thoughts about what should happen going forward

By Emma Norton

Last Friday, Sept. 23rd, was the fourth anniversary of the first global climate strike. That same day that hurricane Fiona, “the most intense storm on record,” according to Accuweather, made landfall in Nova Scotia, cancelling the climate strike so that everyone could batten down the hatches.

On Sept 21, Seth was invited to testify before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance as part of the committee’s deliberations on fiscal federalism. In a rare opportunity, Seth had a full hour with the committee to share our idea for a new federal transfer and then had a spirited Q&A session with the parliamentarians. Here’s an edited version of what he shared.

By Emma Norton

Want to get people to your event? Give them free hot dogs!

Last week, we held a community BBQ for less than $500 and had over 80 people attend with less than a week’s notice. I hosted the event representing the Climate Emergency Unit, and my friends and colleagues represented each of their respective organizations: Joanna Bull with Ecology Action Centre, Peter Perry with NS General Employees Union, and Melissa Marr with Wonder’neath Art Society.

by Seth Klein

Mandates. Hard to think of a more fraught word these days. And given the pushback against COVID mandates, here’s what’s got me nervous: as we finally get serious about the escalating climate crisis, one truth is abundantly clear — we are going to need climate mandates. One of the central markers is that the government “shifts from voluntary and incentive-based policies to mandatory measures.” The curse of our climate policies to date is that they are mired in a voluntary and incentive-based approach that assumes we can meet this crisis by cajoling enough households and businesses to decarbonize and electrify. This approach will condemn our children to a hellscape. We simply cannot incentivize our way to victory in this fight for our lives. The good news: in the main, most of us support mandates. We want to do right by our family, friends and neighbours.

By Erin Blondeau

“How do you deal with climate grief?”

Last week, I asked the CEU team how they handle climate grief and what people can do during times like this to make a difference. Though concern and climate anxiety fill my heart, it feels like a hollow question… how could I really capture the urgency, the anger, and the tragedy that is being felt by the majority of humans across the world right now as they grapple with extreme heat?

By Erin Blondeau

Marking the first anniversary of Canada’s deadliest weather event is the juxtaposition of BC’s wettest June in a decade. The once-in-a-millennium heat wave of 2021, known as the “heat dome”, killed over 600 people across Western Canada.

This year, a similar heat wave hit Pakistan and India. A report by the United Kingdom’s national weather service states that human activity made the heat wave 100 times more likely; by the year 2100, human-caused extreme temperatures could be 275 times more likely.

By Seth Klein

Our deputy prime minister and federal minister of finance today, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, is the highest profile and most powerful minister in the Trudeau cabinet. The Globe and Mail even dubbed her the “Minister of Everything,” a hat-tip to C.D. Howe’s extraordinary role in Canada’s Second World War cabinet. But pray tell, where is the Minister of Everything on the defining crisis of our time — the climate emergency? More than any other minister, Freeland holds the key levers to truly pivot us into climate emergency mode. If the finance minister really wanted to show us that she understands and is ready to lead on the climate emergency, what would she do? This piece offers a few suggestions.

by Seth Klein

I am a political optimist by nature. I keep wanting to believe our federal government has turned a corner — that it has seen the light on the climate emergency and is ready to shift into high gear. But reality – the federal government’s new Emissions Reduction Plan, the Bay du Nord approval, and Budget 2022 – keeps bursting my bubble.

Canada’s approach to climate is a hot mess of incoherence and contradictions, and it is fundamentally at odds with what the IPCC demands of us. Our country now has an updated emissions plan that will finally start to see our GHGs decline. But the pace and pitch are all wrong. Canada still needs a real climate emergency plan.

by Seth Klein

The federal Liberals and NDP have entered into a “supply-and-confidence agreement” (SACA). I am generally a fan of such agreements. Sadly, however, I am much less enthused about the contents of the deal just cemented. As I wrote after the election, “the NDP needs to send a clear message to the Trudeau government — no climate emergency plan, no deal.” Instead, what the NDP managed to secure in this agreement feels weak and vague, especially with respect to the climate crisis. Modelling more cross-party collaboration and co-operation in government is worthy. But we face a climate emergency. And this agreement does not spell out an emergency plan.

By Erin Blondeau

On the heels of the latest IPCC report, Canada is releasing its latest federal climate plan, officially known as the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP). But will it meet the needs of the climate emergency? We can use our emergency markers framework to evaluate it.