Globe Climate: Green Steel? Algoma wants to go electric

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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.

This week we have a cornucopia of exclusive, in-depth climate-themed reporting for you to feast upon; the electrification of a storied steel company, an Anishinaabe nation’s deep dig into its troubled waters, and the latest weapon to fight pests that are increasingly unencumbered by geographical boundaries.

This week also marks mine and Pippa’s last week at the helm of the Climate Newsletter. It’s been a storied summer: wildfires and floods; fisheries and mining disasters; water scarcity and questionable water quality at the Olympics. Sierra will be returning to your inbox next week.

Climate reporting can sometimes be bleak, but when done right, it can also be a source of inspiration, and a record to set us on the right path. This newsletter – we think – is a chronicle of this type of reporting. And it is only possible because you continue to tune in.

Thank you for reading and until next time,

Pippa and Kate

Noteworthy reporting this week:

1. Toronto’s Don River floods, and plans to prevent more chaos, offer urgent lessons for climate-challenged cities
2. Long-awaited research lab opens in Churchill to study oil spills and more
3. White mould is the top threat to Canada’s canola farms. Researchers have found a way to kill it
4. China vows to retaliate against Canada’s electric vehicle tariffs
5. From The Narwhal: Wildfires are destroying habitat for Alberta’s ‘grey ghosts.’ Can they survive?

A deeper dive

Algoma Steel is banking on a renaissance

Jeffrey Jones is ESG and sustainable finance reporter for The Globe and Mail. For this week’s deeper dive, Jeffrey talks about Algoma Steel’s multimillion-dollar plan to go electric.

The idea behind shifting to low-carbon energy is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, not revert economies back to agrarian times. That means we will still need the major building blocks that have been the foundation of global industrialization. Those include big, heavy things produced in hot factories that are, frustratingly, major emitters on their own.

This is certainly true in the case of steel. The industry accounts for 8 per cent of global emissions. At the same time, the material is key to manufacturing the components of renewable energy, making electric vehicles, building up the infrastructure of electrification and a host of other gear identified as part and parcel of the future economy. It’s also a big employer.

In the weekend Report on Business cover story, photographer Deborah Baic and I took an in-depth look at one project in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., aimed at overcoming that conundrum. Algoma Steel Inc. has been in operation there for more than a century, pumping out its products by turning metallurgical coal into coke for its blast furnaces, a process that emits large volumes of carbon and other pollutants.

Later this year, Algoma expects to complete the first phase of a multimillion-dollar transformation to electric-arc steel production at its mill. Instead of using coal, the plant will take in scrap metal as its main feedstock, and produce new steel with a massive charge of electricity. When completed, the project – which has received significant government funding – will emit 70 per cent less carbon dioxide, the company says.

We sought to put the project into context, by examining the rationale, costs and impact on the local community, as well as Canada at large, as the fight against climate change collides with the need to buttress the economy.

Deborah, who hails from the Sault, went inside the plant to see the current steelmaking operations and construction of the electric arc equipment. Her photography and videography showcase the immensity of the challenge. We think it’s worth your time.

- Jeff

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What else you missed

• Climate campaigners take EU to court over 2030 emissions-cutting rules
• Floods, fires, hail: Making Canada’s buildings climate-resilient
• ‘Clean beauty’ can be difficult in the face of complex supply chain issues and climate change
• Calgary residents warned to reduce water usage as crews continue work to repair pipe

Opinion and analysis

Lawrence Herman: Here’s how Canada can square tariffs on Chinese EVs with the WTO

Barbara Zvan & Barbara Stymiest: Canada must align its corporate climate disclosures to global standards

Green Investing

Climate risk analysts say the real estate sector and regulators are moving too slowly on measures to boost the climate resiliency of Canada’s buildings, according to reporting by Kathy Kerr, published on Friday.

The current cycle to change the federal building code – five years – is too long, said Glenn McGillivray – managing director of the Institute of Catastrophic Loss Reduction. Instead Canada should aim to be trail blazers and create the first wildland-urban interface, a zone where human development mixes with wildland vegetation, therefore minimizing the drastic consequences of wildfires.

This type of rethink is sorely needed. On Aug. 22, The Globe’s wealth management reporter Clare O’Hara reported that Canada’s largest property and casualty insurer was facing a significant spike in catastrophic losses caused by the extreme weather.

The Climate Exchange

Check out our new digital hub where you can ask your most pressing questions about climate change. It’s a place where we hope to help by answering your questions, big and small, about the continuing changes and challenges around climate change. Along the way, we’ll aim to highlight the people, communities and companies working toward climate solutions and innovations.

For the record: While RBC supports the initiative financially, the company has no say in what questions get asked or how The Globe answers them.

Photo of the week

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Guides and Explainers

• Want to learn to invest sustainably? We have a class for that: Green Investing 101 newsletter course for the climate-conscious investor. Not sure you need help? Take our quiz to challenge your knowledge.
• We’ve rounded up our reporters’ content to help you learn what a carbon tax is, what happened at COP28 and just generally how Canada will change because of climate change.
• There are ways to make your travelling more sustainable. Here are some books to help the environmentalist in you grow, as well as a downloadable e-book of Micro Skills – Little Steps to Big Change.

Catch up on Globe Climate

• As backyards disappear, urban planners still want to bring nature to our doorstep
• Tracing the burn scars
• Water scarcity in Western Canada
• What does a Team Canada meteorologist do?
• In the wake of Jasper’s wildfire

We want to hear from you. E-mail us: GlobeClimate@globeandmail.com. Do you know someone who needs this newsletter? Send them to our Newsletters page.