Countries must urgently agree to a way of controlling and regulating attempts to geoengineer the climate, the former head of the World Trade Organization says.
Research published in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday found wildfires in North American boreal forests could represent about three per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions under the Paris Climate Agreement’s budget to limit warming below 1.5 C.
The federal natural resources minister said on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, that concerns from the auditor general’s office about government plans to move to a more hydrogen-powered economy don’t mean the goals aren’t achievable.
Official plans call for boosting coal production capacity by 300 million tons this year, according to news reports. That is equal to 7% of last year’s output of 4.1 billion tons, which was an increase of 5.7% over 2020.
President Joe Biden is taking steps to restore national forests that have been devastated by wildfires, drought and blight, using an Earth Day visit to Seattle to sign an executive order protecting some of the nation’s largest and oldest trees.
Last week, the federal government announced Canada’s 2020 greenhouse gas emissions dropped, in part thanks to trees removing carbon from the atmosphere. However, environmentalists are quick to point out this calculation excludes a huge chunk of emissions from the logging industry.
"I am of the opinion that the project, as currently proposed, would likely cause unacceptable environmental effects within federal jurisdiction," Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault wrote.