This article was written by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Ron Bousso, and Shadia Nasralla, and was published in the Globe & Mail on July 6, 2023.

The bosses of global energy companies this week urged governments to shift the focus to limiting oil demand to reduce emissions, rather than pressuring producers to curb supply, which they say serves only to increase prices.

Some western governments have announced plans to scale back or halt oil developments and last year, they increased taxes on oil and gas producers after the Ukraine war led to a surge in their profits.

But OPEC ministers and executives from oil companies told a two-day conference in Vienna governments needed to turn their attention from supply to demand.

“We must invest in the energy system of today as unpopular as it sounds … If we don’t, we will have a mismatch of supply and demand,” BP chief executive Bernard Looney said, according to a source present at the conference.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has withheld media access to reporters from Reuters, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal to cover the event, which ends on Thursday.

Climate activists and some investors have placed pressure on oil and gas producers to shift their portfolios towards zero-carbon renewable energy to tackle global warming.

But record profits from oil and gas last year and relatively low returns from renewable energy prompted some investors to demand companies renew their focus on oil and gas to raise profits.

Companies, such as Shell and BP, have slowed plans to reduce fossil fuels output.

In an interview with the BBC published on Thursday, Shell CEO Wael Sawan said cutting oil and gas production would be “dangerous and irresponsible,” given the likely impact on prices when inflation is already high.

Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of the United Nations’ climate change body (UNFCCC), in turn described Mr. Sawan’s comments as “irresponsible” at the OPEC event, according to a source present.

Oil demand has reached new peaks of above 102 million barrels per day this year, recovering from a dip during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is expected to rise further, driven by strong demand from Asia and for petrochemical production, oil executives and analysts said.

The burning of fossil fuels accounts for the majority of planet-warming emissions, which scientists say need to be reduced to net zero by 2050 to avoid the most extreme effects of climate change.

The head of Abu Dhabi’s national oil company ADNOC, Sultan al Jaber, said the phasedown of fossil fuels was inevitable: “But it cannot be irresponsible … It will also depend on strong demand signals.”

Abu Dhabi will host UN climate talks starting at the end of November.

The oil industry has long said lower investment in oil and gas in the absence of a reduction in oil demand will only lead to higher prices.

“The mistake is to think that if we diminish the investments in the existing system, in oil and gas, then the money will be transferred. No. The reality is if we do it that way, the price will go back up,” Patrick Pouyanne, the chief of France’s top company Total Energies, said.

OPEC ministers and oil companies have said restrictions on access to bank loans for fossil fuel projects have deprived the industry of investments needed to even maintain existing production levels.

Investments in the upstream sector have fallen to about $580-billion this year from a peak of $887-billion in 2014, according to analysts at consultancy Rystad Energy, although they said this week the claims of chronic underinvestment were exaggerated.

“It is very important to have the national and international collaboration of governments on subsidies and incentives of all kinds to change consumer habits,” said Jean Paul Prates, chief of Brazil’s energy giant Petrobras.

“Otherwise we will have the same demand for say plastic that we have now … I believe that a transformation will happen much more on the downstream and demand side rather than upstream,” Mr. Prates said.

Amin Nasser, CEO of Saudi Aramco, said his company would invest $45- to $55-billion this year alone: “It is growing in the years ahead, so this shows our confidence in the future.”

Ontario government mum on how much project will cost

This article was written by Marco Chown Oved and was published in the Toronto Star on July 8, 2023.

The Ontario government is going on a nuclear buying spree but won’t say how much it’s going to spend.

Only months after breaking ground on one of the world’s first small nuclear reactors, the province this week made back-to-back announcements of massive expansions at two nuclear plants, promising more than six gigawatts of new generation — enough to power six million homes by the mid-2030s.

Taken together, the three new small modular reactors (SMRs) at Darlington, announced Friday, and the new full size reactors at Bruce announced earlier in the week, would add nearly 50 per cent more nuclear power to the electricity grid than is currently online.

At both announcements, Energy Minister Todd Smith declined to say how much these new nuclear reactors would cost.

Critics at Queen’s Park say writing blank cheques for nuclear power, which has a long history of costoverruns, isn’t consistent with the government’s promise to keep electricity rates down. “People of this province want to know what will be the total cost of this project. More importantly, what will be the cost of the power generated from these reactors? Who is on the hook for any budget overruns?” said New Democratic MPP Peter Tabuns.

For 14 years, Ontario electricity customers paid a debt retirement surcharge on their power bills to pay off the nearly $20 billion in stranded construction debt from the Darlington nuclear plant, the last nuclear project built in the province, which went wildly over budget and led to Ontario Hydro becoming insolvent.

SMRs, which are supposed to be cheaper and quicker to build than a full-sized nuclear plant, are still a relatively untested technology, and haven’t been put into commercial operation anywhere in the world.

Throughout their history, nuclear plants have suffered from increasing construction delays and cost overruns, while renewable energy, like wind and solar, has dropped in price precipitously. This has caused many to question why Premier Doug Ford is investing in more expensive natural gas plants and nuclear power.

“Ontario is facing an energy crunch. Luckily, the solutions are right in front of us — cheap, safe, clean renewables like hydro, wind and solar that can be deployed quickly,” said Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner.

“Global investors are flocking to renewables because they are the cheapest, cleanest source of electricity generation. But instead of taking note, the Ford government is moving in the opposite direction — hurting consumers, the economy and the climate in the process,” Schreiner said.

Smith said building four SMRs together at Darlington would take a “fleet approach” to keep costs down and build up local expertise.

“Sharing common infrastructure between units is going to help us reduce costs. And building four units provides more opportunities for Ontario companies to make the investments to expand their operations to serve the growing SMR market.”

OPG president and CEO Ken Hartwick said Ontario’s commitment to build four first-of-its-kind nuclear technology has “really signalled the growth momentum that nuclear has for the future of the grid in Ontario.”

“In the long run, developing this made-in-Ontario expertise will mean we can export our know-how to other jurisdictions across Canada and around the world.”

After two decades in which more nuclear plants were shut down than were built, the technology has attracted renewed interest as a climate change solution, since it can provide copious amounts of carbon-free power.

However, critics point out that the plants’ construction and the mining of uranium for fuel are both carbon-intensive. In addition, no long-term storage solution has been developed to deal with the radioactive waste left behind.

New industrial investments by electric vehicle and battery manufacturers, coupled with increasing demand from people as they switch to EVs and electric heat pumps, means Ontario will need to more than double the amount of electricity it generates by 2050, according to the Independent Electricity System Operator.

This article was written by the Associated Press and was published in the Toronto Star on July 8, 2023.

Earth’s average temperature set a new unofficial record high on Thursday, the third such milestone in a week that already rated as the hottest on record.

The number — 17.23 C — doesn’t look that hot because it averages temperatures from around the globe.

Thursday’s planetary average surpassed the 17.18 C mark set Tuesday and equalled Wednesday, according to data from the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations to measure the world’s condition.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday issued a note of caution about the Maine tool’s findings, saying it could not confirm data that results in part from computer modelling.

The new unofficial record of 17.23 C doesn’t look that hot because it averages temperatures from around the globe

This article was written by Steve McKinley and was published in the Toronto Star on July 7, 2023.

An extraordinary wildfire season has created a record-breaking number of evacuees across Canada, federal officials said during a briefing on the national wildfire situation Thursday.

And with wildfire season increasing in length and severity — thanks in part to climate change — that situation will only become more dire as the year goes on.

The unprecedented scale of this season’s fires — driven largely by high temperatures and droughtlike conditions in many areas — has prompted an estimated 155,856 Canadians across the country to flee their homes, as a result of 132 evacuation orders.

That’s about 1.5 times more evacuees than in 2016, when the Fort McMurray fire represented the previous high over the past 40 years. Of those who have evacuated this year, more than 4,500 are still under evacuation orders; 3,400 of those are from First Nations communities.

And Natural Resources Canada officials are predicting the fire situation will be getting worse before it gets better.

“It’s no understatement to say that the 2023 fire season is and will continue to be record-breaking in a number of ways,” said Michael Norton, director general of the Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service.

He said that in addition to the record number of evacuees, the total area burned by wildfires so far this year exceeds the previous total for any entire season since Natural Resources started keeping records. And those fires are being fought with the aid of more international firefighters from more countries than Canada has previously seen.

“And we are only approximately halfway through the fire season,” Norton said.

Meteorologists and fire researchers are predicting a tough summer ahead.

“What we’re seeing in the West is an ongoing drought from 2022, which tended to intensify during the latter part of the summer in 2022,” said CFS fire research analyst Richard Carr. “And that carried on through the winter in a lot of areas and then it spread eastwards over 2023.”

“Right now, we’ve got various drought levels stretching right from coast to coast. There’s some drought in pretty much every province and territory in the country at the moment — the most intense areas are in central British Columbia, and southern Alberta.”

Those drought conditions will combine with projections for “some very extreme or anomalous heat” in B.C., Yukon, N.W.T. and the western parts of Nunavut as well as portions of Quebec, said Environment Canada warning preparedness meteorologist Armel Castellan.

With more of the same hot and dry weather predicted in store for most of the country, Natural Resources is projecting increased wildfire risk in July from B.C. and the Yukon across the country to western Labrador. In August, that area of increased risk will decrease slightly but the areas of greatest risk will still stretch from B.C. to western Quebec.

On June 27, with three months left in the wildfire season, Canada surpassed its historic record for total area burned by wildfires. That previous seasonal mark was set in 1989, when 7.6 million hectares were burned.

As of Wednesday, 8.8 million hectares have been scorched this year, nearly 11 times the 10-year average for this time of year, Norton said. Also by Wednesday, 3,412 fires had been recorded across Canada; 639 of those are active, with 351 of those deemed “out of control.”

Soaring temperatures have us sweltering from coast to coast

This article was written by Seth Borenstein and Isabella O’Malley, and was published in the Toronto Star on July 7, 2023.

Sweltering heat is blanketing much of the planet, and the past seven days have been the hottest week on record, the latest grim milestone in a series of climate-change-driven extremes.

Earth’s average temperature on Wednesday remained at an unofficial record high set the day before. And for the seven-day period ending Wednesday, the daily average temperature was .04 degrees Celsius higher than any week in 44 years of record-keeping, according to data from the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations to measure the world’s condition.

The average global temperature for Tuesday and Wednesday was 17.18 C. That follows a short-lived record set Monday of 17.01 C.

The Climate Reanalyzer figures are unofficial but significant data, and an indication that climate change is reaching uncharted territory.

“The situation we are witnessing now is the demonstration that climate change is out of control,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said.

“If we persist in delaying key measures that are needed, I think we are moving into a catastrophic situation, as the last two records in temperature demonstrates.”

More frequent and more intense heat waves are disrupting life around the world and causing life threatening temperatures.

Overall, one of the largest contributors to this week’s heat records is an exceptionally mild winter in the Antarctic. Parts of the continent and nearby ocean were 10 to 20 C higher than averages from 1979 to 2000.

“Temperatures have been unusual over the ocean and especially around the Antarctic this week, because wind fronts over the Southern Ocean are strong pushing warm air deeper south,” said Raghu Murtugudde, a professor of atmospheric, oceanic and earth system science at the University of Maryland.

Katharine Hayhoe, the Nature Conservancy’s chief scientist, said: “This is one more reminder of the inexorable upward trend that will only be halted by decisive actions to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, invest in nature, and achieve net zero.”

“The situation we are witnessing now is the demonstration that climate change is out of control. ANTÓNIO GUTERRES UN SECRETARYGENERAL

After record breaking days on Monday and Tuesday, unofficial analysis shows the world may have seen its hottest seven days in a row

This article was written by Guardian staff and agencies, and was published in The Guardian on July 7, 2023.

This article was written by Lindsay Jones and was published in the Globe & Mail on July 7, 2023.

Wildfires stoked by drought and scorching temperatures are expected to pose a danger for the rest of the summer, after an early season in which a record-breaking amount of land has already burned, forcing more than 155,000 people to evacuate their homes and necessitating historic levels of international support.

Government officials made the forecast Thursday, as Canadians across the country sweltered under a bout of intense heat and weather warnings.

“This is going to be a long, tough summer,” Michael Norton, director general of the federal Canadian Forest Service’s Northern Forestry Centre, said at a news conference.

“It is anticipated that many parts of Canada will continue to see above-normal fire activity,” he added, noting that Atlantic Canada is at slightly less risk.

As of July 5, wildfires had burned 8.8 million hectares in Canada. That is 11 times the 10-year average for this point in the summer.

The country blew past the record for total area burned by wildfires in a single season on June 27. And the hottest months are still to come.

The amount of area burned isn’t the only measure by which this wildfire season is exceptional. The number of fires is up 20 per cent over the 10-year historical average. That figure is expected to rise, Mr. Norton said.

And the number of people evacuated from their homes because of wildfires – more than 155,000 – is the highest in any year in the past four decades. Currently, there are still more than 4,500 evacuees across Canada, more than two-thirds of them from First Nations.

Most of the country faced sweltering temperatures Thursday, with southern parts of Ontario and Quebec enduring the third day of a heat wave that has made the air feel as though it is 40 degrees, when humidity is factored in. Heat warnings are also in effect in British Columbia and parts of the Northwest Territories. The Atlantic region is experiencing hot, sticky weather that is expected to stretch into the weekend.

Inuvik, south of the Beaufort Sea in the Northwest Territories, remained under a heat warning after the temperature there hit 33 degrees on Tuesday. This was a local daily temperature record, according to Environment Canada records dating back to 1957.

Wildfires have raged simultaneously in Eastern, Western and Central Canada this spring and summer, which Mr. Norton described as very unusual. While wildfires that swept through Nova Scotia last month are now considered contained, as of Thursday there were 143 blazes still burning in Quebec, 100 in B.C. and 109 in Alberta, with dozens considered out of control.

Smoke from the wildfires has, at times, blanketed large areas, prompting air quality warnings in most of Canada’s biggest cities, including Montreal and Toronto, as well as the eastern and central United States. Wildfire smoke is a major source of pollution and can travel long distances and affect large populations, depending on the prevailing winds, according to Marie-Ève Héroux, manager of air quality assessment for Health Canada, who also spoke at Thursday’s news conference.

Wildfire smoke – a mixture of gases, particles and water vapour – can cause mild to serious symptoms, such as irritation, chest pains, coughs and shortness of breath, she added.

“It’s really the fine particles, the ones that are very small and not visible to the human eye that get deep into our lungs and bloodstream – those are the ones we’re most concerned with in terms of health risk,” Ms. Héroux told reporters. “When we breathe in wildfire smoke and these small particles, what we can see is effects related to the respiratory system.”

People who already have heart and lung conditions are particularly at risk from exposure to wildfire smoke, but Ms. Héroux said everyone’s health is at risk, especially when concentrations of pollutants are high for a considerable length of time.

About 3,800 provincial and territorial firefighters are working right now to extinguish wildfires around the country. The Canadian Armed Forces are assisting, along with firefighters from 11 foreign countries, including recent arrivals from South Korea. Work is continuing to identify other possible partners, Mr. Norton said, and memorandums of understanding were signed with the United States and Portugal last month.

Despite the widespread burning, the federal government says it has the capacity to deal with the problem. “We continue to have sufficient resources to fight fires,” Mr. Norton said, adding that the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre is in constant communication with international partners to sustain the country’s firefighting ability until the end of wildfire season.

It’s unclear how much wildfires will cost Canadians this year, but Mr. Norton said the cost of fire suppression is close to $1-billion annually. This year’s expenses will no doubt surpass that and hit a new record, he added. The total economic burden, factoring in effects on forestry, mining, energy production, transportation, infrastructure and public health, is also unknown and will be much higher than usual, he said.

Officials cited El Niño, a climate phenomenon that can create dry conditions in Northern Canada, as a factor in the increased risk of wildfires.

Earth’s average temperature remained at a record high Wednesday, after two days in which the planet reached unofficial records. It’s the latest marker in a series of climate-change-driven extremes.

This article was written by Seth Borenstein and Melina Walling, and was published in Canada’s National Observer on July 6, 2023.

With 2023 officially the worst wildfire season in Canadian history, the federal government is warning that the fire risk will remain very high across the country for the rest of the summer.

This article was written by Peter Zimonjic and was published by CBC News on July 6, 2023.

This article was written by Katherine Fidler and was published by Metro News on July 5, 2023.