Tag: Fossil

Canada wins ‘Fossil of the Day’ award at COP30

On November 18, Climate Action Network International awarded Canada the Fossil of the Day award at the COP30 gathering in Brazil.

“Canada receives the award because the new government of Prime Minister Mark Carney has flushed years of climate policies down the drain, and is completely ‘Missing In Action’ at a COP where multilateralism needs to be saved. In addition to the backsliding on policies tackling Canada’s climate-destroying pollution, his Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin has chosen inaction and silence where leadership was urgently needed.”

Read the full media release HERE.

Latest batch of “nation-building” projects threatens climate and communities

Climate Action Network Canada issued a media release from COP30 negotiations in Belém, Brazil today.

“Canadian civil society is sounding the alarm about the latest batch of “nation building” projects. The major projects list includes the Ksi Lisims LNG terminal, which faces legal challenges from the Lax Kw’alaams Band and the Metlakatla First Nation. Ksi Lisims would be supplied by the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline, which also faces opposition from Indigenous land defenders.”

The new project list also includes the Sisson Mine project. The media release includes a quote from CRED-NB member NBASGA:

Jim Emberger, NB Anti-Shale Gas Alliance:
“Carney could have announced something transformational like the Confederation Bridge or the CN Rail that could have truly changed the lives of people in New Brunswick. People and politicians in New Brunswick and the Atlantic region have been calling for rapid investments in renewable energy, and the grid to support it. Instead, he resurrected a mine that’s been languishing without investment for 15 years, and only because the US Department of War has recently invested in it. So much for elbows up.”

CRED-NB is a member of Climate Action Network Canada. Read the full media release HERE.

Reaction to Budget 2025

After the release of the federal budget on Nov. 4, Climate Action Network Canada issued a statement outlining details of how the government’s new direction tackles the climate crisis. Summary: we are not impressed. The executive director of the national organization said: “We were looking for much-needed clarity on how Ottawa would diversify the economy away from volatile fossil fuels, meet our international climate obligations, and steer Canada towards a safer and more affordable clean energy future. We’re still waiting.“

The statement includes quotes from member climate groups across the country, including CRED-NB. Read the full statement HERE.

Letter: no public funds for the Pathways Alliance Carbon Capture pipeline and storage project

CRED-NB is one of 49 organizations that signed an open letter opposing the use of public funds for the construction and operation of the Pathways Alliance Carbon Capture pipeline and underground storage facility (CCS) — which is currently on the federal government’s list of proposed nation-building projects.

Pathways Alliance — a group of oil companies responsible for 95% of tar sands production — are trying to get $16.5 billion of our public dollars for a risky and ineffective CCS project. As people across Canada struggle with the climate and cost-of-living crisis, top polluters are asking us to foot the bill for their greenwashing scheme.

Read the letter with the signatories HERE.

Alarm raised on Canada’s climate leadership going into COP30

The G7 Energy and Environment Ministerial concluded in Toronto with no clear progress on raising climate ambition ahead of COP30. Climate Action Network Canada calls this a wasted opportunity for leadership from Canada, and a failure of responsibility from the world’s wealthiest countries. Read the analysis HERE.

CRED-NB is a member of Climate Action Network Canada.

Nation-building projects must recognize, address climate change

CRED-NB member New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance (NBASGA) spokesperson Jim Emberger published a commentary in the Telegraph Journal this week.

“On Earth Day, “Seniors for Climate” rallied at the legislature to remind governments that solutions to recent economic turmoil must reflect climate science.

“Unexpectedly, Premier Susan Holt visited the rally and delivered an enthusiastic address in support of the rally’s message. Days later, she contradicted her uplifting remarks by promoting gas and bitumen pipelines, and LNG exports as Canadian nation-building solutions. That she didn’t recognize her contradictions places her in a new constituency that accepts industry propaganda that climate change can be solved, while burning more fossil fuels.”

Read the full article on the NBASGA website, HERE.

Climate groups react: Bill C-5 becomes law, setting a dangerous precedent

CRED-NB is a member of the Climate Action Network Canada that condemns Parliament’s reckless passage of Bill C-5’s controversial Building Canada Act. The Act erodes democratic principles, runs roughshod over Indigenous rights, shuts Canadians out of decisions that could affect them, and puts the environment at risk.

Bill C-5 sets a dangerous precedent. It gives sweeping and potentially unconstitutional powers to the federal Cabinet to bypass environmental laws and legal safeguards. The Bill allows decisions to be made about “national interest” projects with little public participation, without robust environmental impact assessments, and without the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples.

Read the full media release HERE.

As the G7 Leaders’ Summit concludes, Canada fails a test of climate leadership

CRED-NB is a member of Climate Action Network Canada that issued a statement condemning the glaring absence of climate change, and climate solutions, from any of the G7 statements released today.

“The leaders of the world’s richest and most powerful countries published a statement on fighting wildfires that completely ignores climate change—the root cause that’s making wildfires so much more deadly and extreme,” said Caroline Brouillette, Executive Director of Climate Action Network Canada.

“What’s the point of a coalition of like-minded countries if it isn’t even capable of mentioning the existential crisis facing humanity? Instead of showing leadership, Canada’s G7 Presidency catered to the lowest common denominator—for the sake of appeasing a President who couldn’t even be bothered to stick around to the end of the summit.

“Canada was smart to invite other leaders from Global South countries, but it is past time to imagine coalitions that maintain multilateralism without exposing ourselves to the whims of climate deniers like President Trump.

“The G7 Leaders’ Summit was a test of Canada’s climate leadership, and Prime Minister Carney failed.”

NB Power review: few details and no climate action requirement

Ongoing concerns about energy poverty and spikes in NB Power bills sparked public protests earlier this month. On Monday, Premier Susan Holt and Minister responsible for Energy René Legacy, held a media event short on details but full of promises that changes are coming to the troubled public utility.

The government revealed that the public review of NB Power announced three weeks ago will take place this year and wrap up with a government decision no later than March 2026. More details are promised “later this spring.”

The review, to be led by three expert leads supported by steering and advisory committees, will engage with stakeholders and the public and focus on financial sustainability, governance and utility structure, investor attractiveness and strategic partnerships, and customer expectations.

Despite the link between energy generation and the climate crisis, the review will not include any guidance or requirement that the solutions proposed align with the province’s climate action plan. Minister Legacy said he thinks that “groups will come forward and ask about anything to do with clean energy, so that will come up as a focus.”

Read the full article here.

Susan O’Donnell is a core member of CRED-NB, on the NB Media Co-op board of directors and the lead researcher for the CEDAR project at St. Thomas University.