The future of university divestment campaigns: Reflections from inside the movement
by Emily Lowan | January 7, 2022
To an outsider, university divestment campaigns might look like a hopeful but impractical social movement led by naive cadres of sign-waving students. The truth, however, is that divestment is more successful and has more transformative potential than what first appears. Largely hidden but tightly woven connections between universities, finance and fossil fuels have provided ongoing …
Can CleanBC reach its 2030 GHG target? A closer look at industrial emissions
by Marc Lee | November 29, 2021
In the wake of negotiations in Glasgow to push forward global climate action, it is clear that rich countries and jurisdictions like BC are not doing enough to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. On the heels of Glasgow, the massive flooding in southern BC should be another wake-up call on top of a year of …
LNG exports will doom BC’s emissions reduction goals
by David Hughes | November 26, 2021
When the provincial government announced its CleanBC Roadmap to 2030 on Oct. 25, conspicuously absent was any mention of BC’s LNG export aspirations, which will increase emissions from the oil and gas sector and likely doom any chance of meeting BC’s emissions reduction targets. The LNG Canada project under construction in Kitimat includes a gas-fired …
Albertans have a right to be outraged…about the $3.5 million Allan Inquiry
by David Hughes | November 1, 2021
Last week Albertans received the fruits of the Kenney Government’s inquiry into foreign-funded “anti-Alberta” activities targeting the oil and gas industry. The $3.5 million report, a year late and a million dollars over budget, found no evidence of illegal activities or wrongdoing on the part of any individual or organization targeted by the Inquiry. When …
For climate’s sake, Canada Pension Plan needs to take a serious look at its investments
by James Rowe, Jessica Dempsey and James Mager | September 9, 2021
The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) manages the pensions of 20 million Canadians. In a recent Corporate Mapping Project report, we found that the CPP has increased the number of shares it owns in fossil fuel companies since Canada signed the Paris Agreement five years ago. The CPP’s total fossil fuel investments across its entire portfolio …
Regime of Obstruction: Book Excerpt
by Bill Carroll | July 21, 2021
Edited by William K. Carroll Athabasca University Press Available for purchase and free online reading, use discount code REGIME20 until August 15, 2021 for a 20% discount. The following excerpt was adapted from introduction to Regime of Obstruction: How Corporate Power Blocks Energy Democracy: Regime of Obstruction features research findings from the first three years …
Federal COVID-19 Funding to Alberta’s Oil Patch “Not Well Spent”
by Corporate Mapping Project | July 7, 2021
EDMONTON and OTTAWA –– A new report by the Parkland Institute and Oxfam Canada exposes how $1 billion in federal COVID-19 emergency funding transferred to the Alberta government is failing to achieve its intended social and environmental objectives. When funding to clean up orphaned and abandoned oil wells in Western Canada was announced in April …
Regime of Obstruction: How Corporate Power Blocks Energy Democracy
by Corporate Mapping Project | June 28, 2021
The book Regime of Obstruction: How Corporate Power Blocks Energy Democracy is available in PDF format free of charge or to purchase a physical copy use discount code CMP20 to receive 20% off until August 15, 2021. From the publisher Rapidly rising carbon emissions from the intense development of Western Canada’s fossil fuels continue …
Net zero emissions: muddying the waters or real solutions?
by Corporate Mapping Project | June 17, 2021
VANCOUVER – Increasingly, government and industry talk about “net zero” when it comes to emissions reduction targets. But what does this really mean? Reducing emissions to zero is a clear concept, but “net zero” muddies the waters in that some greenhouse gas or carbon emissions are permitted as long as they are balanced by “negative …
Canada’s Carbon Conundrum and the Difficult Path Forward
by David Hughes | June 7, 2021
Since the first oil well was drilled in 1859 humans have been on a roll. Global population has increased more than six-fold and energy use per capita has grown more than nine-fold. Accompanying this explosive growth in energy use was unprecedented economic expansion— since 1965 global GDP has grown 6.8-fold and per capita GDP has …
Fossilized Finance: How Canada’s banks enable oil and gas production
by Donald Gutstein | April 29, 2021
Despite Canada’s climate change commitments, the country’s “big five” banks continue to finance and support the expansion of fossil fuel industries. In fact, the extent of the banks’ support since the oil price collapse in 2014 shows that this backing hinders Canada’s progress on reducing emissions. These banks are perhaps the most powerful corporate entities …
Fracking in BC’s northeast
by Marc Lee | February 23, 2021
Last summer I got out of Vancouver and toured northern BC. While the trip was mostly for pleasure, my inner economist could not resist some industrial tourism and visits to resource towns and major industrial sites that are the heart and soul of BC’s resource economy. Forestry dominates near Prince George, fishing at Prince Rupert, …