Many nations, like Britain, Norway, and Germany, tax gasoline at $550 per tonne of CO2 — $400 more than we do. Unsurprisingly, our surging tailpipe emissions are driving Canada's climate failure, writes Barry Saxifrage.
Despite decades of failing, Canada is once again promising big emissions cuts even as it expands fossil fuel production. Has any nation pulled it off? Here's what I found when I went looking.
Fossil fuel pollution has been searing the Golden State into a hot, dry tinderbox. The megafires have followed in accelerating fury and frequency, and carbon columnist Barry Saxifrage has the charts to prove it.
Canada's continent-spanning forest used to remove massive amounts of CO2 from the air each year. It was a hugely valuable "carbon sink", slowing the pace of climate change and benefiting our logging industry.
The primary fuel of the climate crisis — CO2 in our atmosphere — continues to accelerate upwards, unchecked by decades of Earth Days, climate summits and even a global pandemic. Barry Saxifrage shows us where we are now, globally and in Canada.
"Seeing" our family car litter 15 plastic straws out its tailpipe every second on the highway completely changed my understanding of our climate pollution emergency. And then I did the math for my flight. Barry Saxifrage details his eye-opening findings.
The Paris Agreement calls on all countries to strengthen their initial targets this year. What should Canada aim for? Here are four charts illustrating the current situation and the choices ahead.
For the first time, Canada has proposed a way to meet its climate targets, but it will take a lot more tough legislation to rein in emissions from our highest polluters, writes Barry Saxifrage.
