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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.
Ontario is bracing for the first major heat wave of the year, with Environment Canada forecasting scorching temperatures that could feel like 45 C in parts of the province. This summer, Canada is expecting hotter-than-usual temperatures with slightly below-average precipitation in central Canada: not a good forecast for wildfire season.
But we aren’t the only ones getting worrying weather news. In Greece, tourists have been found dead following a period of unusually hot weather, highlighting the dangers of heat exposure; In India, cities have become “heat traps” amplifying the problem; America is also expecting a chaotic weather map from floods to severe cold, and yes, also extreme heat in parts of the country.
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
Noteworthy reporting this week:
- Financial services: Big 5 bank CEOs walk a fine line on climate impacts of finance
- Fishing: Ottawa set to stop open-net salmon farms in B.C., giving the industry five years to transition
- Policy: Canada’s biodiversity strategy welcome, but needs work to ensure it meets targets, critics say
- Traditional whaling practice: The Makah Tribe in Washington State gets approval for grey whale hunt
- Oil and gas: Haisla members vote overwhelmingly in favour of supporting Cedar LNG
- Technology: An idea born from rising condo fees? Parity Inc. raises $25-million for its technology to cut energy costs
- Nuclear energy: AtkinsRéalis promises massive growth from global re-embrace of nuclear
- Listen to The Decibel podcast: How will Canada manage major energy demands in the next decade?
- Explainer from The Narwhal: Canada just pledged to tackle environmental racism. What does that mean?
A deeper dive
Ksi Lisims LNG and Prince Rupert Gas Transmission
Brent Jang is a reporter in The Globe and Mail’s B.C. bureau. For this week’s deeper dive, he talks about the Nisga’a Nation’s backing of a project for exporting liquefied natural gas.
In the Nass Valley in northwest British Columbia, the Nisga’a Nation has approved the August start of construction on its territory of a natural gas pipeline.
TC Energy Corp.’s proposal for Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) originally contemplated transporting natural gas from northeastern B.C. to Lelu Island, located near Prince Rupert on the West Coast. But that route concept got shelved in 2017, after Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas scrapped plans to build a terminal on Lelu Island for exporting liquefied natural gas.
Fast-forward to 2024, and the end point for PRGT has changed to Nisga’a territory, specifically at Wil Milit on Pearse Island. PRGT would feed the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG export facilities.
The Nisga’a, Houston-based Western LNG, and a group of natural gas producers called Rockies LNG are partners in Ksi Lisims.
Last week, the Nisga’a Lisims government said it has cleared the way for PRGT construction to start in the Nass Valley on Aug. 24.
The beginning of pipeline construction is contingent on the closing by the end of June of TC Energy’s sale of PRGT to the Nisga’a and Western.
Climate and environmental organizations, including Dogwood and the Wilderness Committee, and some Indigenous groups are watching with keen interest. Critics are questioning claims by Ksi Lisims that the project will be able to comply with what the B.C. government calls credible plans to reach net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases.
Representatives voicing their opposition include those from Indigenous groups in northwest B.C. such as the Lax Kw’alaams Band, Gitxsan Nation and Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs.
The Nisga’a, which signed a treaty in 1998, have sought in recent years to acquire territory at the Nass River’s estuary at Nasoga Gulf, near Pearse Island. But that attempt to claim ownership of Nasoga Gulf is being contested by the Lax Kw’alaams and Metlakatla First Nation.
A portion PRGT’s route would cross the Gitxsan’s unceded traditional territory.
The Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark 1997 ruling, known as Delgamuukw, established rights and title for the Gitxsan and the neighbouring Wet’suwet’en Nation.
B.C. environmentalist Mike Sawyer said PRGT’s length would be shortened to roughly 775 kilometres instead of the original 900 kilometres. He argues that the revised concept differs so much from the original plans that he is calling on the BC Environmental Assessment Office to declare that PRGT does not have a valid permit.
The Nisga’a, however, view Ksi Lisims and PRGT as prime examples of economic reconciliation in action.
- Brent
The Nisga’a Lisims Government building in the village of Gitlaxt’aamiks in the Nass Valley of northwestern B.C. Sept 22, 2023.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
What else you missed
- Record low May sea ice rings alarm bells for Canada’s Hudson Bay polar bears
- Federal Court judge finds minister took too long in case of endangered spotted owl
- Ontario chemical plant subject to provincial, federal orders, permanently closing
- Wildfire forecast anticipates high risk for new wildfires in Prairies, NWT
- Climate change disasters require emergency plans for dialysis patients, experts say
- Federal government releases carbon pricing impact data ahead of Conservative motion demanding it
- How AI could help farming become more efficient and sustainable
- High orange juice prices may be on the table for a while due to disease and extreme weather
- King Charles painting vandalized by animal rights activists
- Swiss parliament’s lower house votes to reject European court climate ruling
- Largest U.S. oil trade group to file lawsuit seeking to block Biden’s EV push
- China urges EU to reverse “wrong practices” on EV tariffs
Opinion and analysis
Blair Feltmate: Instead of rebating carbon-tax revenue, invest some in climate adaptation
Obituary: Arctic biologist Ian Stirling helped make polar bears a symbol of climate change
Editorial board: A hard night’s sleep wrestling oil and climate
John Rapley: The energy transition comes in two ways: First slowly, then suddenly
Green Investing
Heather Ward, Co-Founder & President Hyperion Global Energy in Ottawa, on July 28, 2021.Justin Tang/The Globe and Mail
Ottawa-based Hyperion launches pilot with Lafarge to use carbon emissions to strengthen concrete
The world’s largest cement company has launched a test of technology developed by an Ottawa-based startup to process carbon emissions and make low-carbon concrete to help meet its net-zero goal.
Lafarge Canada, a unit of Switzerland’s Holcim Group, has partnered with Hyperion Global Energy Corp. to pilot its system to capture flue gas from cement manufacturing at an Eastern Ontario plant and store the minerals resulting from its process in concrete, the companies said.
- EV charging grid FLO gets $136-million boost in financing
- Brookfield Asset Management looks to raise $5-billion for UAE-backed climate fund
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 who are 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
Thousands of fishermen fill a large muddy pond and cast their nets in the southern Mali town of San, Thursday, June 6, 2024, for Snake mon, a collective fishing rite that begins with animal sacrifices and offerings to the water spirits of Sanké pond. For several hundred years, people have gathered for the rite, which is on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage. Heatwaves in Mali in recent years have caused the pond to start drying out.Moustapha Diallo/The Associated Press
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 about what a carbon tax is, what happened at COP28 and just generally how Canada will change because of climate change.
- We have ways to make your travelling more sustainable and if you like to read, here are 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
- We want your questions about climate change
- At the water cooler of Canadian sustainable finance
- Indigenous impact fund champions outcomes-based finance
- The one with great gardening advice
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