Author: CREDNB

Climate Action Network Canada releases expectations for Canada at COP31 in Antalya

CRED-NB is an active member of Climate Action Network Canada. As COP31 opens in Antalya, Turkiye, Climate Action Network Canada (CAN-Rac) calls on Canada to be accountable for the growing gap between climate realities and its political response.

COP31 will seek to unite countries around concrete implementation of the Paris Agreement, but takes place at a moment of intensifying geopolitical tension and an accelerating climate crisis, illustrated by the floods in Nepal, heatwaves in China, and another summer of wildfires and smoke in Canada. In a brief published today, CAN-Rac lays out its expectations and calls to action for the role Canada must play to ensure the success of COP31 negotiations. Read the full story HERE.

Canada-EU Alliance must be a Climate Alliance

CRED-NB is a member of Climate Action Network Canada (CAN-Rac) that recently issued a call for European and Canadian leaders to put ambitious climate action at the heart of their deepening partnership. The urgency is clear. Across Canada and Europe, devastating wildfires, extreme heatwaves and floods are taking an increasing toll on communities, with mounting human and economic costs. In Europe alone, this summer’s heatwaves caused more than 30,000 excess deaths, with economic losses estimated at €180 billion. In Canada, wildfires across the country, made twice more likely and more intense due to human-caused climate change, have forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. Read the full CAN-Rac statement HERE.

Indigenous-led energy: Can nuclear power meet the Seven Generations principle?

New Brunswick faces critical choices about its energy future, with consequences that will extend beyond today’s needs and shape the world future generations inherit. These choices were part of the broader conversation at the fifth annual Atlantic Indigenous-Led Energy Symposium (AILES), held in Saint John in September.

The symposium highlighted the Seven Generations principle: learning from the past and making decisions with future generations in mind. Read the full article by CRED-NB Champion Mayara Gonçalves e Lima, published in the NB Media Co-op, HERE.

Floating nuclear power in northern New Brunswick: a reality check

Recently a proposal to build a floating nuclear power plant with two small reactors at the Port of Belledune made the news. Is the proposed project more than just another nuclear establishment pitch for public funding? Will New Brunswick be sucked into a third SMR vortex demanding tens of millions in subsidies before spiralling into dust?

Read the commentary by CRED-NB core member Susan O’Donnell, published in the NB Media Co-op, HERE. Translated and published in French, HERE.

CRED-NB submission to the West Coast Pipeline consultation

CRED-NB made a submission to the Major Projects Office consultation on the proposed West Coast Pipeline. If built, the pipeline would bring even more oil from Alberta’s tar sands to the Pacific coast for export.

In our submission, we wrote that the proposed pipeline will not strengthen Canada’s autonomy, resilience, or security. The pipeline will continue to tie the Canadian economy to fossil fuels, ensuring that we remain vulnerable to market booms and busts, and price shocks as the rest of the world builds domestic energy security by committing to the energy transition.

Read the full document HERE. CRED-NB is one of many member groups of Climate Action Network Canada that is opposing the West Coast Pipeline and all new fossil fuel infrastructure during the climate crisis.

Environment Minister issues clarification after saying province ‘on target’ with climate goals

How can a fossil fuel burning power plant be expected to operate while meeting a “net zero” emissions requirement? That’s one of the questions that remains after New Brunswick’s Liberal government announced conditional approval for a planned 500-megawatt generating station in Tantramar.

At a media conference announcing the results of the environmental impact assessment on Aug. 28, Environment Minister Gilles LePage assured reporters that New Brunswick is on target to meet its emissions targets.

In fact, a report quietly published by his own department just one week earlier states that New Brunswick “is not currently on track to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.” Read the story by David Gordon Koch in the NB Media Co-op, HERE.

Pay hike for NB Power CEO while ratepayers struggle ‘doesn’t make sense’: NB ACORN

Picketers at NB Power’s Fredericton headquarters on Sept. 3 said the government is not doing enough to help the thousands of New Brunswickers struggling to pay their electricity bill.

The 2025 report on energy poverty from the Human Development Council found that more than 37,000 households in the province experience both low income and high energy burden, a rate nearly double the national average.

NB ACORN chair Nichola Taylor organized the picket because she said the government is not doing enough to help these people. “First of all, the announcement that the CEO is getting a huge pay rise while everybody else is paying huge rate increases … it just doesn’t make sense.”

Read the full story by CRED-NB core member Susan O’Donnell in the NB Media Co-op, HERE.

Update on the proposed Tantramar Gas Plant

The NB Media Co-op and The Energy Mix both have the story of the Government of New Brunswick’s recent approval of the proposed gas plant in Tantramar. Here’s the details:

Province approves Tantramar gas/diesel plant with 45 conditions. (August 31). NB Media Co-op story HERE.
The New Brunswick government has approved construction of a 500 MW gas/diesel plant near Centre Village subject to 45 conditions that require the U.S. company PROENERGY to monitor air and water quality and submit a net zero greenhouse gas emissions plan after one full year of operation.

New Brunswick Greenlights 500-MW Tantramar Gas Plant, Subject to Conditions. (August 28). The Energy Mix story HERE.
The New Brunswick government on Friday granted conditional approval for a 500-megawatt natural gas plant that officials say is crucial to avoid rolling electricity blackouts within the next two years. The green light comes after the province completed an environmental impact assessment on the project. The government said U.S.-based ProEnergy would need to meet a series of 45 conditions before building and while running the facility.

‘Do your job’: Federal minister pressed to review Centre Village gas plant (August 18). NB Media Co-op story HERE.
The executive director of the Atlantic Wildlife Institute is renewing his call for federal Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin to order a comprehensive review of the proposed 500 MW gas/diesel plant near Centre Village. “We’re asking her to do her job,” Barry Rothfuss said on August 13 during a telephone interview. “Right now, we have, in my view, an illegal environmental assessment taking place in the province of New Brunswick,” he added.

NB Power’s proposed gas plant in Tantramar: ‘opposites day’ revisited. (August 6). NB Media Co-op story HERE.
Fans of Sesame Street will recall the iconic video “Opposites Day,” in which Bert and Ernie learn all about opposites. Whatever they do, the reverse is intended. Whatever they say, the opposite is meant. Hilarious for adults, educational for the kids. In a stark example of life imitates art, Tantramar Municipal Council and residents were treated recently to their own version of Opposites Day, as NB Power’s Chief Commercial Officer Brad Coady and his entourage appeared before Municipal Council on July 14. The ostensible purpose? To demonstrate transparency about the proposed 500-megawatt fossil fuel power generation plant for Centre Village in Tantramar, to be built, owned and operated by the American firm PROENERGY. But the result? Obscurity, unintelligibility, obfuscation. Opposites Day indeed.

PEI, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia’s MOU marks an important step towards doubling grid capacity

In July, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to advance Maritime regional electricity cooperation and system integration — marking an important step towards a deeper regional electricity system. 

The agreement between the three provinces establishes a process to develop a transmission roadmap, exploring how greater coordination of electricity planning, transmission, generation and emerging energy resources can strengthen the region’s energy system. It also opens the door to exploring new approaches to regional grid operations, including the potential for a Maritime Independent System Operator.

While the final model is yet to be developed, the MOU represents a meaningful shift toward breaking down provincial silos and finding new ways to improve reliability, make smarter infrastructure investments, and build a stronger electricity system for the region. 

Read the full statement by Climate Action Network Canada HERE. CRED-NB is a member of the national network.