Every two weeks, Mike Moffatt, Senior Director at SPI, explores five things to watch in the green economy in a segment for Smart Prosperity: The Podcast.

Here are five things happening in the green economy this week:

1) Nova Scotia’s new Premier, Iain Rankin, has committed to accelerating action on climate change. The government’s throne speech pledged phasing out coal plants by 2030; ten years ahead of schedule and promised to make Nova Scotia Canada’s first carbon-neutral province.

2) The Alberta and federal governments announced a joint working group for a carbon capture and storage strategy, which would enable the oil and gas sector to reduce its carbon emissions at the source. Media reports suggest Alberta is requesting thirty billion dollars of federal investment into the technology.

3) Bank of Montreal announced plans to deploy three hundred billion dollars over the next four years to helping clients achieve net-zero carbon emissions. This follows a similar commitment last month from RBC.

4) Bill Gates issues a warning that Bitcoin is the most energy intensive payment transaction method on earth. The data bares this out, as the Dutch-based Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index now pegs the cryptocurrency’s electricity usage at about one hundred Terrawatt Hours, equivalent to the usage of the entire country of Norway.

5) A new United Nations report finds countries are not allocating enough recovery spending towards a green recovery. Of the 14 trillion being spent by the world’s top economies, less than twenty percent is focused on climate friendly economic growth.

Listen to the full segment, and plenty of other great content, in today's new episode of Smart Prosperity: The Podcast. Our podcast provides fresh takes on the current affairs, politics, research and business of the clean economy. New episodes posted every two weeks.