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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.
If you were on social media this weekend, you probably saw a lot of people sharing pictures of aurora borealis. That’s because an unusually strong solar storm hit Earth, creating stronger than usual Northern Lights in Canada and the United States.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects were due to last through the weekend and possibly into this week.
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
The aurora borealis, caused by a coronal mass ejection on the sun, illuminates the sky over Jericho Beach in Vancouver on May 10, 2024.Chris Helgren/Reuters
Noteworthy reporting this week:
- The Globe explains: Allergy season has arrived. Here’s how you can cope
- Wildfires: Wildfire south of Fort McMurray grows in size as residents told to be ready to evacuate
- Politics: Alberta wants to seize power from local authorities during emergencies, change fixed election date to avoid spring natural disasters:
- Vacation: Manjushree Thapa paints a picture of the strangest vacation as wildfires descended on the North last summer: ‘We canoed through climate change’
- Energy: ‘Faster and cheaper than we dared think possible’: Why a global leader in the energy transition is still feeling optimistic
- Technology: Canada’s oldest power plants are getting major facelifts to bring them into the 21st century
- Listen to The Decibel: How do we solve our global plastic problem?
- The Narwhal: A behind-the-scenes timeline of the Alberta government’s push for a renewables pause
A deeper dive
This year, the name of the game is prevention
Sierra Bein is the author of the Globe Climate newsletter. For this week’s deeper dive, she talks about preparation and prevention measures being put into action this spring ahead of another summer of expected disasters.
Across the country, preparation for climate-related disasters are under way as wildfire season kicks into gear.
This weekend, a wildfire near Fort McMurray, Alta., almost quadrupled in size, bringing back painful memories of one of the country’s costliest disasters eight years ago. Fires in British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba have also already forced thousands of people to flee their communities.
Perhaps most notable from last week, Alberta is planning to move its fixed election date to October from May, one year after wildfires forced the evacuation of nearly 30,000 people as parties jostled on the campaign trail. It would be “almost negligent” to plan on another spring election going forward, said Mike Ellis, the province’s Public Safety Minister.
Smoke rises from wildfire MWF017 on the south side of the Athabasca River valley near Fort McMurray, Alta., on May 10, 2024.ALBERTA WILDFIRE/Reuters
For its policy holders, Intact Financial Corp., Canada’s largest property and casualty insurer, is rolling out a pilot project this summer that will deploy experts to help fire-proof properties in Western Canada at no additional cost. Services will include covering exterior openings to prevent embers from entering a residence, setting up sprinkler systems and spraying fire retardant.
Meanwhile, new recruits to the BC Wildfire Service are honing their skills for a hard season. It’s an annual ritual of training that has taken on extra urgency after one of the most brutal wildfire seasons in Canadian history last summer. It killed eight firefighters – six in B.C. alone – and devastated forests.
Despite those challenges – or perhaps because of them – the fire service saw applications more than double over the winter. “I had friends who were affected and had to relocate – affected by the air quality. And that kind of pushed me to want to get into this kind of work and be a part of the efforts to help keep communities safe,” recruit Lauren Mavrou said.
But not all the programs and changes are related to wildfires specifically.
Alberta will be able to seize power from local authorities to respond to a range of natural emergencies under proposed legislation that threatens to further erode already tense relationships with municipal leaders. Ottawa is contributing $45-million to help prevent landslides along the Whitehorse Escarpment to protect the airport and the road to the Yukon’s capital. And health professionals are being urged to help their patients better prepare for extreme weather, too.
- Sierra
New BC Wildfire Service recruits struggle to carry gear on their final day of boot camp in the mountains outside Merritt, B.C., on April 29, 2024. The challenge involves carrying huge loads of equipment up a steep hill repeatedly non-stop for two hours.Jesse Winter/The Globe and Mail
What else you missed
- New library breaks ground as first net-zero facility in Waterloo Region
- EU countries approve law to slash carbon dioxide emissions from trucks
- From floods in Brazil and Houston, to brutal heat in Asia, extreme weather events seem to be everywhere
- World Food Prize goes to men who helped protect vital seeds in Arctic Circle vault
- Calgary city council dumps bylaw charging consumers for shopping bags
- Federal government bans watercraft from Manitoba lake popular with tourists
- B.C. halts new jade mining in northwest, five-year transition for existing operations
- Alberta farmers will continue fight over world class motorsport resort
- Northvolt should turn Quebec into a major EV player. Why are people so unhappy?
- China’s push for greener aluminum hit by erratic rains, power cuts
- Trudeau says Meta news ban degrades safety while it makes billions off communities
Opinion and analysis
Editorial board: The uneasy intersection of oil and climate
Michael Bernstein: Capital Power’s big carbon capture project is on hold – it’s a sign that we have to work even harder on decarbonizing Canadian industry
Bob Baldwin: A proposal to encourage more pension fund investing at home is wrong for Canada
Green Investing
Canadian climate finance is ‘patchwork, delivered late, falling short,’ Carney says
Canada is jeopardizing its competitive position by dragging its feet on major climate-related financial policies as allies quickly adopt global standards and green investing rule books, former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney said last week.
Countries around the world are busy putting disclosure standards into force, and coverage is expected to extend to more than 100,000 companies. The former governor of the Bank of England told a Senate banking committee that Canada’s slow progress in building a sustainable financial system puts it at risk of losing investment and the job creation it fuels.
- Suncor records second highest annual production, says safety record is improving
- Competition Bureau launches inquiry into Lululemon over ‘greenwashing’ allegations
Making waves
Supplied
How are Canadian corporations measuring up on net zero? On May 27, join Report on Business magazine for the 2nd annual Road to Net Zero event, focused on climate progress and priorities for business. Executive leaders and industry specialists will provide tactics and advice to reduce regulatory risk and capture new opportunities. Hear how companies are progressing toward net zero based on exclusive research by Morningstar Sustainalytics. The ratings identify corporations in Canada that are demonstrating good leadership in emissions reduction while recognizing that much work remains to be done.
Do you know an engaged individual? Someone who represents the real engines pursuing change in the country? E-mail GlobeClimate@globeandmail.com to tell us about them.
Photo of the week
Fragments at a coral nursery show signs of bleaching in Trat, Thailand, on May 07, 2024. Extreme heat has driven sea temperatures in the country to record highs, causing severe damage to marine ecosystems. Coral bleaching and seagrass bed degradation are threatening the ecological balance and the livelihoods of coastal communities. Similar marine events are playing out across a vast swath of Asia, including the delicate coral ecosystems of Indonesia and Thailand.Sirachai Arunrugstichai/Getty Images
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.
- We have ways to make your travelling more sustainable, and 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
- Can floating nuclear power plants serve remote Northern communities?
- So Canada bought a pipeline. Now what?
- Canada’s bird watchers are also observing climate change
- Why Norway is feeding Arctic foxes dog food
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