July 7: Five Things Happening in the Green Economy This Week

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.

On top of all the additional news, research, and analysis covered in the podcast, here are five (other) things happening in the green economy this week:

1) By 2035, every single car and light-duty truck sold in Canada will need to be electric or another kind of zero-emission vehicle. This announcement is part of an effort to transition Canada away from fossil-fuel vehicles, which account for one quarter of all Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, less than four percent of new vehicle sales in Canada are electric and zero-emission.

2) Aluminium giants, Alcoa and Rio Tinto, have broken ground on a project in Quebec that will eliminate all direct greenhouse gas emissions from the aluminium smelting process. The emerging low-carbon technology could help reduce the 1.1 billion tonnes of carbon pollution coming from aluminium production worldwide every year.

3) Algoma’s proposed Electric-Arc Furnace project at its steel-making facility in Sault-Ste Marie, Ontario, got a shot in the arm, as the federal government announced it will contribute $420-million to the project. By 2030, the project will cut emissions by three million tonnes per year.

4) Up to 410 million people could become at risk from sea level rise as a result of climate change, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Communications. It projects that at-risk population could grow by more than 50% by the end of this century.

5) The federal government announced it will close a majority of commercial salmon fisheries along Canada’s west coast. The move comes as experts observe an up to ninety percent drop in wild salmon populations, which is being attributed to overfishing and deterioration of fish habitats.

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.