Canada's oil patch is in trouble. The Paris Climate agreement is not the only indicator of this. A couple of years ago there was a meeting between two heavy-hitters - one in the field of climate change and the other in oil development. When solar entrepreneur Jimmy Leggett bumped into Suncor Energy boss Steve Williams at the World Economic Forum in 2014, it looked like tempers might get hot.
The two men were among a group of 40 or so dinner guests - a mix of CEOs, pension fund managers, economists, and government leaders. They had gathered in Davos, Switzerland to talk about short termism' in the financial and corporate worlds and how it undermines efforts to take on climate change. Short termism is defined as concentration on short-term projects or objectives for immediate profit at the expense of long-term security.
At one point during the dinner, Leggett recalls in his book The Winning of the Carbon War, Williams mentioned the difficulty he had in pushing through a 50-year investment plan for the oilsands. Leggett, who is also non-executive chairman of the London-based financial think tank Carbon Tracker, asked Williams after dinner if he was concerned the investment would become stranded; that within five decades the world would no longer need what Canada's largest oil company had to offer.
"Clean energy can't do the job oil does Clean energy can't be economic," Williams defiantly stated. To which Leggett replied: "But we are already in the process of doing that Doesn't that make you worry just a little about your 50-year plan?"1
Back then, Williams had less to worry about. Brent crude oil was priced around USD107 for each barrel and meaningful political action on climate change both in Canada and internationally was largely pretty weak and in many countries totally absent.
Today, two years later, the fossil fuel industry is under siege. Brent prices have plunged to below $40 a barrel, and International Energy Agency says a recovery could be a long way off. At the same time, Alberta now has an ambitious climate plan that includes a carbon tax and a hard cap on oilsands emissions. On top of that, 196 countries approved a binding global climate deal in Paris.
In the wake of the COP21, Toronto and Vancouver are planning new ways to meet their climate goals including: fewer cars, more efficient buildings and transit systems, and greater urban density. These are some of the ideas being talked about as cities such as Toronto are looking to meet their goal of cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050 - less than 35 years hence. Mayors of major cities from around the globe were amongst those who met in Paris last November. They will be on the front lines offering renewed hope that municipalities can build a consensus around what needs to happen next.
"There's a sense, there's a new resolve, that is a tremendously urgent problem," said Paul Antze, chair of the Toronto Climate Action Network.
The city of Toronto has already launched the planning phase through Transform TO, a two-year exercise aimed at coming up with both a short- and long-term plan for reducing GHGs while also improving public health, boosting the local economy, and reducing social injustices. This may sound overly ambitious but history shows that public support for carbon reduction schemes rises when such moves are linked to other benefits.
Vancouver has undertaken a similar task, publishing its Renewable City Strategy this past November. Its primary goal is to ensure that the city derives all of its energy from renewable sources by 2050.
No cars and trucks running on gasoline? No buildings heated with natural gas? Some people might find that is definitely a stretch. But in reality, Vancouver has already had considerable success, doubling daily bicycle trips to 100,000 by installing protected bike lanes. As well, a low-carbon energy system that uses waste heat from a major sewer to heat homes and water in one neighbourhood has expanded beyond its original 2010 Olympic athlete's village footprint.
Creating plans, setting goals and conducting annual reviews are part of Vancouver's process. It also helps that the city's top bureaucratic job is now held by Chicago's former environmental wonder-kid, Sadhu Johnston.
One of the biggest keys to the success of any carbon-reduction programme is public engagement, research of the C40 group of megacities noted in a December report called Potential for Climate Change. There are many barriers to success from public attitudes to government regulations to cost, the C40 study found. The City of Houston, for example, where 74 percent of trips are made in private cars, has struggled to win support for expanding public transit in part because buses are viewed as the ride of choice of lower-income folks therefore less desirable for car-owners.2
Public consultation needs to extend well beyond city hall meetings, climate change advocates proclaim.
Through Facebook, Twitter and other online services, Vancouver reached 30,000 residents while designing its Greenest City blueprint in 2010.
The following three green successes are worth mentioning:
- Rio de Janeiro's Madureira Park is the city's third-largest park, built in a concrete jungle. It has helped lower surrounding temperatures by two degrees Celsius, cut energy costs and improve local health. Planted with 52,000 seedlings and 432 native trees, the area is irrigated with reused rainwater and lit with LED lamps. It will also be one of three spaces hosting free areas to watch the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games on big screens.
- The University of British Columbia's Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability. The most sustainable building in North America , it is a CAD37 million living laboratory' that reduces the campus's overall impact on the environment by using waste heat from a neighbouring building; using 100-percent rainwater to meet its needs; and purifying its waste water. The facility opened in 2011.
- Bell Trinity Square in the centre of Toronto is Canada's most energy-efficient private-sector building out of 500 that voluntarily provide data to RealPAC, an association of major property owners and investors. Built in the early 80s, the office complex was retrofitted in 2010 to bring it up to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standards. Bell Trinity Square consumes just 15 kilowatts or energy per square foot per year. By comparison, the worst building on RealPAC's list eats 120 kW/square foot a year.
"One of the big lessons of Paris is there's a tonne of stuff happening out there beyond government policy. If we don't get the private sector on board, it's not going to happen. If we don't get civil society engaged on the behavioural side of things, it's not going to happen," states sustainability researcher John Robinson. "Treaties only work if countries decide to keep them. And that means a whole bunch of factors need to be in place. We need to engage everybody," Robinson continued.3
1 Tyler Hamilton, "Oil's Slippery Slope" Toronto Star (December 19, 2015): B1
2 Dana Flavelle, "Cities plan to join battles against climate change" Toronto Star (December 19, 2015): B1
3 Ibid
