Tag: Renewable Energy

NB government’s energy plan is ignoring reality

NB government’s energy plan is ignoring reality.

Rothesay, New Brunswick, December 13, 2023 – The Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick (CRED-NB) is astounded that the NB government would produce an energy plan that ignores the reality of where energy systems and the global energy economy are headed.

Tom McLean, of CRED-NB, said “Today, at the conclusion of the UN climate change conference, COP28, the global community committed to triple the use of renewables and transition away from fossil fuels. It makes no sense for New Brunswick to plan to frack fossil gas when the world is deploying wind turbines and solar panels.”

The government’s plan is also based on a nuclear technology that may never exist. In the presentation in February by CRED-NB to the NB Legislative Assembly Standing Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship, we quoted the authoritative U.S. National Academies’ of Sciences 2023 report. It states that the advanced reactors planned for New Brunswick, ­ molten salt and sodium-cooled, ­ will have difficulty achieving commercial operations even by 2050.

“Premier Higgs’ energy plan is not sensible, sustainable or just,” said Ann McAllister, Chair of CRED-NB. “Fracking for fossil gas has no social license in NB due to its health and pollution risks. Hydrogen production is so expensive and inefficient that it makes more economic sense to use the electricity directly.

The SMRs proposed for New Brunswick will come too late to reduce carbon emissions now, when we need them. To export them would provide client countries who don’t yet have nuclear weapons with the plutonium to produce them. This is not the plan we need in these times of climate change and escalating global conflict.”

Meanwhile, the planet is burning, and the clock is ticking. While we’re waiting for these nuclear SMR experiments to fail, the government is wasting time that we must spend urgently on genuine climate action.

A moment of truth for the oil and gas industry

The International Energy Agency (IEA) published a major report, The Oil and Gas Industry in Net-Zero Transition, which states that the sector must slash its GHG emissions by 60% by 2030 to meet the Paris Agreement targets.

The IEA is bringing “5 pillars for action” to the COP28 climate summit in Dubai for “getting the world on track by 2030 for meeting climate goals.” Notably the five priorities do not include ramping up nuclear energy:

  1. Triple global renewable capacity
  2. Double the rate of energy efficiency improvements
  3. Oil and gas companies commit to advancing clean energy transitions and slashing emissions from their operations, including cutting methane by 75%
  4. Establish large-scale financing mechanisms to support clean energy investments in emerging and developing economies
  5. Adopt measures to ensure an orderly decline in the use of fossil fuels

The IEA statement with links to the full report is HERE.

June 28: Emergency day of action rally in Moncton

Note: On June 29, The NB Media Co-op published a story and video about this event, HERE.

The Climate Justice Coalition (Moncton) and Extinction Rebellion NB are collaborating with 350.org to organize a Moncton rally for the national day of emergency action:

Wednesday, June 28, 12:00 PM
Outside the office of MP Ginette Petitpas Taylor
272 St-George Street
Moncton, New Brunswick

Please join the rally to to demand that the federal government stop fueling climate chaos!

In recent weeks, major wildfires swept through nearly every Canadian province and territory. These fires have scorched a record-breaking area of land — over 5 million hectares. And it’s only June. This month global surface air temperatures rose to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels for the first time. To meet the Paris Agreement’s goal of maintaining livable conditions, increases in global surface air temperature to the 1.5 C level will need to be limited to a brief period.

Unfortunately, we are entering an El Niño period, which is expected to warm 2024 to a higher level than 2023. Furthermore, the El Niño phase could last years.

However, if dramatic emission reductions start immediately the world can keep within 1.5 degrees. But instead, the government has just handed over another 3 billion in tax-payer money to fossil fuels knowing that investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure is now considered “moral and economic madness” by scientists and experts the world over. In Trudeau’s own words, “Canada is burning” but his government is still failing to do even the bare minimum when it comes to climate action.

Communities across Canada are rising up to demand an immediate end to fossil fuel subsidies and a just transition to 100% renewable energy. Please join us to demand:

1. Stop the fossil fuel industry: no more subsidies, no new projects, and no more industry influence over our politics.
2. Enact a Just Transition: urgently shift us to 100% renewables while
generating millions of unionized jobs, following Indigenous leadership, and aligning with climate science.

As we face unprecedented impacts from climate change, it’s up to us to hold politicians responsible and force them to change course.

On June 28th, while catastrophic fires rage and smoke blankets much of the continent, Moncton will bring the heat to MP Petitpas Taylor to demand that the Federal Government stops fueling climate chaos. Join us at MP Petitpas Taylor’s office to demand action to end fossil fuel subsidies and implement a just transition. Together, we can bring the intensity of the climate crisis to the government’s doorstep. Bring face masks, signs, and friends as we push our representatives to muster up the courage to combat the climate crisis.