November 11, 2020

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

I’m Mike Moffatt, Senior Director at Smart Prosperity, and here are the five clean economy things I’m watching this week: 

1) Japan will be carbon neutral by 2050, its new prime minister announced, making an ambitious pledge to sharply accelerate the country’s global warming targets, even as it plans to build more than a dozen new coal-burning power plants. The announcement comes after China said it would reduce its net carbon emissions to zero by 2060.

2) A new US monthly Green Jobs Report shows that, six months into the pandemic, “greener” enterprises align with more resilient jobs, higher pay for workers, fewer job losses, and the potential for better overall company and investor portfolio performance.

3) Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan unveiled rules for the $750-million emissions-reduction fund first announced at the end of April. Oil and gas companies that use federal funds to help cut methane emissions won’t have to repay in full if they wholly eliminate their projects’ methane emissions.

4) Alberta unveiled a suite of greenhouse gas emission-reduction programs, to provide economic stimulus and reduce emissions across industries from oil and gas to forestry to agriculture. 280 million dollars in federal and provincial funds will go to the programs, which will be overseen by Emissions Reduction Alberta, an agency that uses carbon tax proceeds from large emitters to fund GHG-reduction projects.

5) New Brunswick Power's Total Home Energy Savings Program has seen a surge of interest, that NB Power says is probably linked to the boom in home renovations that's been triggered by the pandemic. About 700 homeowners have been signing up per month, since the program restarted in June.

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. And all served up in 25 minutes or less. New episodes posted every two weeks.