OK, things are bad. We’re in a trade war. The U.S. is pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord – again.
As well, 2024 was confirmed the hottest year ever recorded. The hottest in 50 million years, say those who study ice cores, ancient sea beds and the like.
We’ve watched the results of that extra heat. The Jasper fires. The GTA flash floods. The $3 billion Calgary hail storm. Quebec floods. And more recently, the horrific LA fires.
Weather disasters keep racking up billions in insured costs. In Canada, $8.5 billion in 2024 compared to less than half a million annually before 2009.
While it all sounds bleak, there’s also good news on the environmental front.
- We’re speeding into the age of clean electricity, thanks to plummeting costs and surging production of batteries and solar panels. “Low-emissions sources are set to generate more than half of the world’s electricity before 2030,” says the annual World Energy Outlook report released in December. We’re already at 30 per cent.
- Investments in clean energy were almost double the investments in fossil fuel projects last year.
- China’s carbon dioxide pollution is expected to peak this year, thanks in part to all their electric cars, buses and trucks.
- The UK shuttered its last coal-fired power plant last year.
- Amazon deforestation is slowing.
- Chicago is now powering its 400 municipal buildings with renewables, including 98 fire stations and two international airports. It’s among hundreds of cities with net-zero emissions targets, including Toronto, Hamilton and Guelph.
- Businesses like IKEA are slashing pollution while growing profits.-Here at home, Canada’s climate efforts are starting to pay off. Emissions fell 6.4% in 2022 and a further 7.1% in 2023.
- Canada’s largest battery energy storage facility is set to open this year in southern Ontario.
- Kawartha Lakes began urban compost collection this year. That should mean less methane leaking from landfills.
- Sixteen northern Ontario First nations are ditching their dirty diesel power and connecting to the grid, with federal support.
- Admittedly, we have a monumental task to reach net-zero global pollution by 2050. Emissions are still notching upward. The transformation to clean energy needs to accelerate, but more work is underway.
- MethaneSAT will be fully operating this year. The satellite tracks methane leaks in oil and gas production areas, so industry and governments can focus on plugging those leaks. Natural gas (mostly methane) is a much more potent global warming gas than carbon dioxide in the short term. Shutting off those leaks could quickly begin to slow warming.
- People everywhere are coming together to support climate progress. And 160 Ontario faith leaders recently spoke out against the province’s Highway 413 project and cycle lane bans because of their climate and environmental impacts. There are also relatively new groups like For Our Kids, Seniors for Climate Action Now (SCAN) and Fridays for Futures, among many others, working for the climate.
What can we do? Remember that every fraction of a degree of warming matters. Every action matters. Every vote matters. Since there’s strength in numbers, consider joining an interest group. SCAN has a Kawartha chapter. There’s For Our Grandchildren in Peterborough.
While we’re seeing setbacks, the trajectory is clear, says Simon Stiell, head of the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change. “The world is undergoing an energy transition that is unstoppable.”
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