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. Click here to listen to this week's episode.
1) The International Energy Agency released a report that models a narrow pathway for reaching global net-zero-greenhouse-gas-emissions by 2050. It identifies 400 steps, including for zero new investments in fossil fuel projects, and stopping the sale of new internal combustion engine passenger cars by 2035.
2) The federal government launched a Sustainable Finance Action Council to improve the flow of investment to support Canada’s climate goals. The biggest challenge for the council will be to develop a system of mandatory disclosure of climate-related financial risks for companies, in line with Canada’s peers.
3) Just 100 companies are responsible for producing 90% of all the world’s single-use plastic pollution, according to research published by the Minderoo Foundation. The culprits include both state-owned and multinational corporations, from oil and gas giants to chemical companies.
4) Britain launched its own carbon pricing system for industrial emitters last week, after it had pulled out of the European Union’s system as part of Brexit. Participants are concerned that, without a link to the EU system, the British system will be less effective.
5) Bitcoin shares took a plunge when Elon Musk announced that Tesla would no longer be accepting the cryptocurrency as payment. Musk pointed to Bitcoin’s massive climate footprint which is already equivalent to that of a medium-sized country, and rising.
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.
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