Zero Energy Growth For Canada

"In the coming years, Canada's economy and energy systems will undergo a transformation as the country pursues a goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. In this context, during 10 meetings between 4 April 2022 and 22 September 2022, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources (the Committee) studied the measures needed to transition Canada's energy system towards a fair and equitable net-zero future"--Introduction, page 7.

The world is transforming its energy system from one dominated by fossil fuel combustion to one with net-zero emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary anthropogenic greenhouse gas. This energy transition is critical to mitigating climate change, protecting human health, and revitalizing the U.S. economy. To help policymakers, businesses, communities, and the public better understand what a net-zero transition would mean for the United States, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine convened a committee of experts to investigate how the U.S. could best decarbonize its transportation, electricity, buildings, and industrial sectors. This report, Accelerating Decarbonization of the United States Energy System, identifies key technological and socio-economic goals that must be achieved to put the United States on the path to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The report presents a policy blueprint outlining critical near-term actions for the first decade (2021-2030) of this 30-year effort, including ways to support communities that will be most impacted by the transition.

Canadians have been coming to a greater understanding of the threat posed by global warming and the need for urgent action by governments, industry and the public at large. The Trudeau government has, more or less, taken up the cause. Provinces are recognizing the need for action, even as they fight over what that should be. Some multinational corporations are suddenly promoting themselves as environmental stewards. Concerned citizens are looking for ways to effectively reduce their carbon footprint. Yet progress has been slow and limited. In this book, long-time social and environmental activist Tony Clarke provides the hard-to-find information and analysis about what Canada is and is not doing right now to get to zero. He documents the key initiatives that are moving Canada towards a lower-carbon future. But he also spells out how contradictory government decisions and policies are enabling a business-as-usual approach by the oil and gas industry. In doing so, he examines how the Trudeau government promotes measures to reduce greenhouse gases — but then also promotes pipelines that permit further expansion of Alberta's oil sands and new liquidied natural gas plants with enormous greenhouse gas outputs. As a participant in events surrounding the 2016 Paris climate summit and as a critic of Alberta's heedless oil sands expansion in his book Tar Sands Showdown, Tony Clarke combines a deep understanding of environmental issues with knowledge of how Canada's economic and political systems operate. He identifies many positive initiatives organized by various civil society groups taking us on the path to zero emissions. For him, effective citizen engagement and action are key to the serious changes needed to get Canada to zero.