International: Canada
Trees could become a source of carbon emissions
13 Sep 2023
In the face of climate change, we’ve been told forests are our salvation. But scientists believe this summer’s wildfires are a sign of a tipping point — with trees a major source of carbon emissions.
Eastern Canada wildfires: Climate change doubled likelihood of ‘extreme fire weather’
25 Aug 2023
The unusually hot and dry weather that drove record-breaking wildfires in eastern Canada was made at least two times more likely by human-caused climate change, according to a new rapid attribution study.
Canadian wildfires approach provincial capital as officials race to evacuate city
21 Aug 2023
Canada is evacuating residents from the provincial capital city of Yellowknife amid wildfires that have creeped perilously close, threatening to engulf homes across vast swathes of the Northwest Territories.
Canada’s wildfires prompt US air quality alerts for 70 million people in 32 states
21 Jul 2023
Smoke from the hundreds of blazes in Canada, has once again drifted across the border into the United States, prompting another round of air quality warnings.
Scientists unveil the key site that shows we’re in a new climate epoch
20 Jul 2023
The holy grail for understanding the start of the Anthropocene lies at the bottom of a lake in Canada.
Canada wildfires release record 160 million tonnes of carbon
29 Jun 2023
The EU's Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service said wildfires burning through large swathes of eastern and western Canada have released a record 160 million tonnes of carbon.
Canada can now breed for methane efficient dairy cows
26 Jun 2023
Canada is the first country to deliver a national genetic evaluation aimed at lowering methane emissions.
Canada’s wildfires are part of our new climate reality, experts say
9 Jun 2023
Canada is on track to experience its most severe wildfire season on record, and it’s part of a trend experts say will intensify.
Continuing wildfires in Canada prompt air quality warnings in northeastern US
8 Jun 2023
More than a dozen U.S. states were under air-quality alerts on Wednesday as smoke from hundreds of wildfires burning in eastern Canada wafted south, casting a dull gray pallor over the skyline of New York and other big cities.
Canada facing ‘deeply concerning’ wildfire season
2 Jun 2023
Canada is facing its most severe early wildfire season on record, with 211 wildfires burning and 82 classified as out of control, the country’s minister of public safety said.
Canada climate battle looms as Alberta takes aim at PM Trudeau
31 May 2023
Canada will struggle to meet its ambitious climate target without significant greenhouse gas reductions from Alberta, the nation’s highest polluting province.
Canadian financial institutions are fueling the climate change crisis
22 May 2023
Canada will almost certainly fail to meet its target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 45% by 2030 in accordance with the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommendations.
How climate change is impacting Canada’s largest wetland
16 May 2023
The starkly beautiful Hudson Bay Lowlands, located between the Canadian Shield and Hudson Bay, are covered in carbon-rich peat and dotted with small ponds as far as the eye can see.
A Canadian businessman spent $1 million to offset his carbon footprint
26 Apr 2023
A globetrotting millionaire has calculated his carbon footprint — and then paid $1 million to offset it.
Canada wants more Indigenous knowledge in IPCC climate reports
12 Apr 2023
Canadian delegates to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have called for broader inclusion of Indigenous knowledge in future climate reports.
Minister warns Canadians may pay more in carbon tax than they receive in rebate
3 Apr 2023
Canada’s environment and climate change minister acknowledged that the average household may eventually pay more for the carbon price than it gets back in rebate payments, but says the Liberal government has other programs to help Canadians lower their energy costs overall.
Fossil fuel ad campaign misled Canadians, claims Competition Board complaint
21 Mar 2023
The environmental group Greenpeace has filed a complaint with Canada’s Competition Bureau against a coalition of the country’s six largest oil sands producers for running what they allege is a “misleading” and “anti-competitive” advertising campaign.
Architects not adopting biomaterials are "dinosaurs"
14 Mar 2023
Canadian mass-timber pioneer Michael Green has hit out at architects designing unusually shaped buildings rather than embracing biomaterials in this interview as part of Dezeen's Timber Revolution series.
Can tidal energy help power coastal and island microgrids?
14 Dec 2022
About 250 coastal and island communities in Canada now use diesel for their main power source, but the global marine design firm BMT hopes to get them off diesel with a project using microgrids powered by tidal energy and other renewable resources.
Ottawa announces Indigenous guardians network to fight climate change
12 Dec 2022
The Canadian government is announcing the creation of a new network that will help support Indigenous-led environmental initiatives.
Protecting nature's carbon sinks can mitigate climate change, but not a 'silver bullet': report
12 Dec 2022
Protecting carbon sinks such as forests, tidal marshes, and seagrass meadows can mitigate climate change impacts but those conservation efforts will not be enough to capture the CO2 that Canada emits, says a Canadian expert panel on carbon sink potential.
Canada’s oil-sands companies reap windfall profits while lobbying against real climate action
23 Nov 2022
COP27 exposed some realities about the oil and gas sector’s climate ambitions. A UN report released during the summit called out the sector’s greenwashing and weak net-zero commitments as the industry had a massive lobbying presence at COP that outnumbered almost all other nations and likely impaired the negotiations around phasing out fossil fuels.
Why an old train could point to a clean energy future
9 Nov 2022
An old diesel freight train in British Columbia, Canada is about to get a new lease of life. Local firm Hydrogen in Motion (H2M) is currently converting the Green Goat locomotive to run on a mix of hydrogen and battery power.
What is blue carbon and why is it vital for mitigating Canada's carbon emissions?
7 Nov 2022
Marlow Pellatt spent time on Vancouver Island, taking samples of soil from deep underground and wading through water to understand the biodiversity in the area. To an onlooker, it may seem like he’s playing in mud, but he’s actually researching how important coastal ecosystems are in Canada’s fight against climate change.
Residential green spaces protect growing cities against climate change
7 Sep 2022
The urban population of Canada is growing by more than 400,000 annually, and these new urban residents need housing.
Canadian farmers push back against fertiliser emissions target
24 Aug 2022
As part of Canada’s net-zero target, the country is seeking to significantly cut the emissions from fertilizers, a move that is seeing pushback from the agriculture industry.
Canada’s carbon tax is hurting working people: opinion
11 Aug 2022
In 1912, the fact that excess carbon released into the atmosphere could warm up the earth was first made public knowledge. Here we are, one hundred ten years later, still wondering what to do about the problem.
Why does Canada keep propping up Big Oil amid climate crisis?
8 Aug 2022
Legislators on Capitol Hill will soon vote on the biggest climate crisis bill in U.S. history. It's sparked a lively debate in its northern neighour where Canadians are questioning whether the time has come to tackle big oil.
Icon Architects unveils design for tallest mass-timber building in North America
25 Jul 2022
Canadian studio Icon Architects has released its design for a 31-storey tower in Toronto that, if completed, will be the tallest mass-timber structure in North America.
South Korea to use nuclear energy to reach carbon goals: PM
20 Jun 2022
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo has said that South Korea will actively use nuclear energy to meet its target of carbon neutrality and as a tool for the nation's energy security.
Hold applause on carbon tax rebates: Toronto Sun
13 Jun 2022
The good news is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is about to begin sending out “climate action incentive payments” directly to households in the four provinces where he imposed his carbon tax.
Canada unveils carbon emissions offset market
9 Jun 2022
Canada unveiled Wednesday a national carbon emissions market to help it meet its climate goals by allowing cities, farmers and others to sell credits for CO2 reductions to heavier polluters.
Water crisis, power cuts worsen misery in Pakistan’s hottest city
17 May 2022
By the time Pakistani schoolboy Saeed Ali arrived at the hospital in one of the world’s hottest cities, his body was shutting down from heatstroke.
Canada, industry in talks to cement future carbon price hikes
13 May 2022
The Canadian government is in talks with heavy industrial emitters about ways to ensure Ottawa's planned carbon price increases will remain in place even if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government is voted out of power.
Canada overestimating hydrogen's potential cut carbon emissions: Auditor General
27 Apr 2022
Canada has overestimated how much using hydrogen could reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade, potentially jeopardizing Ottawa's ability to meet climate targets, a report from the Auditor General's office said on Tuesday
Trudeau government lowballed cost of carbon tax
28 Mar 2022
The reason Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux says most Canadians paying Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax are worse off financially, as opposed to the Trudeau government which claims most are better off financially, is simple.
New mapping connects indigenous knowledge to climate mmpacts and solutions
17 Mar 2022
The Climate Atlas of Canada is out with a new Indigenous Knowledges component that captures the climate impacts facing First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities across the country and the solutions they’ve been putting in place, from land conservation to renewable energy development.
Massive timber residential building planned for Toronto
25 Feb 2022
Architecture studio Adjaye Associates has designed a plant-covered building called Timber House as part of a developement on Toronto's waterfront that will include buildings by Alison Brooks Architects and Henning Larsen.
Carbon credits outperforming bitcoin, in the bet on a longer energy transition
18 Feb 2022
The price of European carbon credits - a core holding of two newly launched ETFs - has outperformed popular investments like bitcoin over the past year. Analysts see the price continuing to climb as governments put more pressure on industries to go green.
Canada says U.S. solar tariffs violate trade pact
17 Feb 2022
Canada prevailed on Tuesday in a challenge to U.S. solar panel tariffs under the trade pact between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, its trade minister said on Tuesday, ahead of planned talks with Washington over the dispute.
Mining would see financial boon under global carbon tax — so why is industry fighting it?
11 Feb 2022
The mining industry would see a financial windfall from a global carbon tax, so why does it keep fighting change? That’s the contradiction researchers from the University of British Columbia examined in a study that has provoked strong opposition from the oil and gas industry.
Toronto's huge new solar wall
10 Feb 2022
A company in Toronto is installing North America’s biggest solar wall to date, a 7,000-square-foot system located in an industrial area of Rexdale Blvd. in west-end Etobicoke.
TransAlta submits plan for battery storage near Alberta hydro dam
3 Feb 2022
Fossil heavyweight TransAlta Corporation has officially filed an application to build a 180-megawatt battery storage facility near one of its hydroelectric projects in Alberta.
The rise of voluntary carbon markets
26 Jan 2022
The voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) are poised for explosive growth in 2022. At the conclusion of COP26 in Glasgow, 632 of the world's largest 2000 public companies by revenue had announced plans to achieve Net Zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Canada's biggest climate polluters pay lowest carbon price
24 Jan 2022
On its tar sands in northern Alberta, Suncor Energy scrapes vast open-pit mines and drills down deep into the ground to extract the viscous bitumen that has turned it into one of the largest energy companies in North America. The process is so energy-intensive that it has also made the firm into Canada’s largest carbon emitter: it belches roughly 28 million tonnes into the atmosphere every year, equivalent to the entire emissions of Tunisia.
Farmed seafood supply at risk if we don’t act on climate change
14 Dec 2021
The supply of farmed seafood such as salmon and mussels are projected to drop 16%globally by 2090 if no action is taken to mitigate climate change, according to a new Canadian study.
Canada’s tar sands challenge the existence of land and people
24 Nov 2021
The first mine opened when Jean L’Hommecourt was a young girl, an open pit where an oil company had begun digging in the sandy soil for a black, viscous form of crude called bitumen.
Canadian steelmakers embrace 'green steel' as carbon taxes set to rise
23 Nov 2021
The Canadian steel industry is at a crossroads, with government policies like carbon pricing designed to combat climate change hitting manufacturers' bottom lines and international pledges likely to seek further concessions from companies that burn
E-bike delivery experiment reduced CO2 emissions by 30%
20 Oct 2021
For three months last summer, residents in one Seattle neighborhood received their packages via electric cargo bike rather than a delivery van, as part of a pilot program testing new innovations to urban delivery.
Canada election: experts urge ‘bolder’ action amid climate crisis
13 Sep 2021
Nearly a fifth of Canadians say climate change is their top election issue. But experts question whether political parties are taking it seriously enough.
Climate and rock art advocates take on ‘carbon bomb’ gas project in Aus federal court
Wed 22 Jul 2026
The Albanese government’s decision to approve one of the world’s largest gas projects in Western Australia is being challenged in the federal court, setting up a significant test of how Australia’s environment law deals with the climate crisis.
Trump blames Canada for wildfire smoke affecting US
21 Jul 2026
A series of Republican “leaders” have started producing angry denunciations of Canada for polluting America’s air with their "thoughtless" fires.
China solar exports to South, Southeast Asia and Africa rise despite post-rebate slump
Wed 22 Jul 2026
China's solar exports to Southeast and South Asia as well as Africa rose year-over-year in June, customs data showed on Monday, though overall solar exports slipped for a second month after China removed an export tax rebate.
European wildfires may not be out for months, authorities warn, as flames rage near Bordeaux and Madrid
Today 12:00pm
President Macron said France's wildfire situation is toughest since WWII as higher temperatures loom again this week.
Every new UK home should have air conditioning, say Liberal Democrats
Today 12:00pm
All new UK homes should be built with air conditioning to cope with the effects of the climate crisis, according to the Liberal Democrats.
Extreme heat costing India’s poorest workers 2% of GDP, survey finds
Thu 23 Jul 2026
India’s informal workers are estimated to be losing $78 billion in wages per year because of productivity declines and illness caused by intensifying heat.
French Polynesia objects to an American seabed mining plan made without its input
Fri 24 Jul 2026
The government of French Polynesia plans to challenge an American startup’s proposal to explore the waters just beyond its maritime borders for seabed mining.
‘I can’t work in the farce of climate change cruise tourism anymore’: why Antarctic guides quit their dream jobs
Wed 22 Jul 2026
“You’d see massive glacier calvings, and you’d just want to cry. But all the guests would be cheering. And you’d be like … ‘can you not put two and two together?’”
Access to finance ‘strengthens climate resilience’ among sub-Saharan women
Today 12:00pm
Empowering women through greater access to finance could “strengthen” households’ resilience to “climate shocks”, according to a new study.
Panama Canal braces for El Niño, announcing first transit restrictions
Fri 24 Jul 2026
The probability of a severe El Nino has risen from 25% to 81% and the Panama Canal is preparing to restrict transits.
COP31 president says electrification is ‘surest way to protect citizens’
14 Jul 2026
Last month, COP31 president-designate Murat Kurum launched a target for 35% of the world’s final energy to come from electricity by 2035. In an interview with Carbon Brief, Kurum says that the target was not a political choice, but instead reflects the latest evidence on “what is needed to keep 1.5C within reach”.
