Canada has slipped to 62nd place out of 67 ranked countries on the latest Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI). This downgrade of five ranks underscores the nation’s dire performance in critical areas such as greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy adoption, and energy efficiency, with its climate policy rates deemed “low.” The CCPI, a monitoring tool published annually by Germanwatch since 2005, evaluates countries’ climate protection efforts. The latest report highlights Canada’s dismal performance despite its status as the sixth-largest crude oil producer and the fifth-largest natural gas producer globally. …In response to mounting pressure, the Canadian government has proposed regulations for a net-zero electricity grid by 2035 and pledged investments in renewable energy and grid modernization projects. However, challenges such as the absence of a national power grid and disconnected regional grids hamper clean energy deployment.
The Wood Pellet Association of Canada… is advancing five major research and development projects in 2024:
GATINEAU, QC – …The latest National Inventory Report confirms Canada has bent the curve and is reducing emissions toward achieving the country’s 2030 emissions reduction goal in a growing economy. …The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, released Canada’s 2024 National Inventory Report, which tracks and reports on the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. This year’s edition provides estimates from 1990 to 2022. The new National Inventory Report data for 2022 shows emissions were significantly lower, by 44 megatonnes, than Canada’s pre-pandemic 2019 levels. In fact, 2022 emissions of 708 megatonnes are the lowest they have been in 25 years, with the exception of the COVID–19 years, when emissions dropped sharply. …This year’s inventory also provides evidence that many parts of the economy are becoming more efficient and greener through the adoption of clean technologies; the switch to cleaner fuels and non-emitting electricity (hydro, wind, solar, nuclear); and structural economic changes as Canadians build a low-carbon economy.
OTTAWA — T
Fewer Americans today see climate change as a “very serious” problem than they did three years ago, according to a survey released Monday. The Monmouth University poll shows a 10-point decline in Americans who says climate change is a “very serious” problem, falling from 56% in September. The decline was less steep overall – with 66% ascribing climate change as a problem that’s either “very serious” or “somewhat serious.” That’s down from 2021, when 70% of respondents described the climate change problem as either “very serious” or “somewhat serious.” Patrick Murray, director of the Polling Institute, attributed this trend to a decline in urgency among Americans. “Most Americans continue to believe climate change is real. The difference in these latest poll results is a decline in a sense of urgency around this issue,” Murray said. The decline in urgency can be seen most acutely among young people.
The U.S. exported 938,662.3 metric tons of wood pellets in March, up from 696,692.9 metric tons in February and 909,787.1 metric tons in March of last year, according to data released by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service on May 2. The U.S. exported wood pellets to approximately 18 countries in March. The U.K. was the top destination for U.S. wood pellet exports at 554,934.5 metric tons, followed by the Netherlands at 129,622 metric tons, Denmark at 94,706 metric tons, Japan at 76,995.4 metric tons, the French West Indies at 50,000 metric tons and Belgium-Luxembourg at 29,436.4 metric tons. 
Massachusetts — I’m writing in response to Katy Eiseman’s recent column, “
Nearly five years ago, New York state passed an ambitious climate law intended to reduce and counteract fossil fuel emissions contributing to climate change. Storing carbon dioxide, a gas released from burning fuel, is key to achieving the goals outlined in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Much of that can be accomplished through protecting carbon-absorbing forests across the state. Although the Adirondacks has millions of acres of forest, most land in the state is privately owned. Which puts a critical network of interconnected properties at risk of development. To achieve goals set in the climate act, experts say the state needs to roughly double the size of its carbon sink by fostering new forests and avoiding further loss. Researchers with the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry developed an accounting system with detailed satellite imagery to help agencies identify where forests are most vulnerable.
Growing alarm over climate change has pushed world leaders in recent years to see Earth’s forests as a critical resource in the fight against global warming. But the newfound attention might not always be a good thing. The focus on forests and their value as carbon sinks could be contributing to an increase in global inequalities and create too much reliance on market-based solutions, such as carbon offsets. The warning was included in a new report from the International Union of Forest Research Organizations, a nonprofit network of forest scientists. Published Monday, the report provides a scientific review of recent trends in global forest governance….But focusing entirely on their carbon value could risk neglecting the other benefits that forests provide, such as their cultural importance to Indigenous communities. …In addition, forest carbon markets can shut local communities out of forest management discussions in their home regions.
Increasingly, businesses are writing off their carbon emissions by funding the conservation of forests. A new report finds that while such schemes have made “limited” progress in curbing deforestation, they have largely failed to alleviate poverty in forest communities. “We are too late on in the game to use win-win narratives,” said Daniela Kleinschmit of Freiburg University, a lead author of the report. Published by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations and presented this week at a U.N. meeting on forest loss, the report looked at both carbon offset programs and programs that certify goods as not contributing to deforestation. It found that such schemes frequently operate at the expense of forest dwellers. Forest communities often see no income from offset schemes and are sometimes forcibly evicted from their lands in the name of protecting forests, the report said.
STOCKHOLM — Stockholm Exergi today announced that it has signed a contract with Microsoft covering 3.33 million tonnes of permanent carbon removals from bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) at Värtan, Stockholm. The agreement represents the world’s largest permanent removals deal to date. The deliveries of the carbon removal certificates to Microsoft are planned to start in 2028 and continue for a period of ten years. “The agreement with Microsoft is a huge step forward for our BECCS project, Stockholm Exergi as a company and the climate. It is the strongest possible recognition of the significance, quality and sustainability of our project and takes us an important step closer to a final investment decision in Q4 2024. I believe the agreement will inspire corporations with ambitious climate objectives, and we target to announce more deals with other pioneering companies over the coming months,” says Anders Egelrud, CEO of Stockholm Exergi.
The Scottish Government has confirmed that wood burning stoves can still be installed in new houses but only “to provide emergency heating, where a need can be justified.” Changes to the building standards – the regulations governing the requirements for all building in Scotland – came in last week, forbidding the use of ‘direct emission heating systems.’ Effectively, that means that new houses and conversions are not allowed to use gas or oil boilers, or any form of bioenergy where electricity or heat is generated from organic matter such as wood. Instead, housebuilders are expected to use what are known as ‘zero DEH’ systems such as heat pumps, solar thermal storage systems or electric storage heaters. …A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Heating our homes and buildings represents about a fifth of Scotland’s carbon emissions so tackling the climate emergency requires us to address these emissions.
Another month, another global heat record that has left climate scientists scratching their heads and hoping this is an El Niño-related hangover rather than a symptom of worse-than-expected planetary health. Global surface temperatures in March were 0.1C higher than the previous record for the month, set in 2016, and 1.68C higher than the pre-industrial average, according to data released on Tuesday by the Copernicus Climate Change Service. This is the 10th consecutive monthly record in a warming phase that has shattered all previous records. Over the past 12 months, average global temperatures have been 1.58C above pre-industrial levels. This, at least temporarily, exceeds the 1.5C benchmark set as a target in the Paris climate agreement but that landmark deal will not be considered breached unless this trend continues on a decadal scale. …The sharp increase in temperatures over the past year has surprised many scientists, and prompted concerns about a possible acceleration of heating.