Some of us are addicted to spending money on things like shoes or total solar eclipse memorabilia. Canada is addicted to spending money on oil and gas developments.
Driving the news: A new study found that between 2020 and 2022, Canada led all G20 nations in foreign fossil fuel investments. Canada’s public financial institutions — namely Export Development Canada (EDC) — doled out US$10.9 billion a year for foreign oil and gas developments on average compared to just ~US$1 billion a year for renewables.
- What’s more, Canada also led the way in new domestic fossil fuel investments over that same time span, with 95% of Canada’s fossil fuel funding coming from EDC.
Why it matters: No matter what you think about fossil fuels and their environmental impact versus their economic importance, the fact is that the feds have made endless promises about powering the global green transition that they are sabotaging rather than fulfilling.
- A report by research firm Corporate Knights found that the feds had committed to spending $48.6 billion on initiatives to combat climate change since taking power in 2015, but have spent just $34.3 billion — $14.3 billion, or 30%, less than promised.
What’s next: There’s still time for the feds to prove they can walk the walk as well as talk the talk. In fact, they announced a plan last year to end domestic public financing for fossil fuels by the fall of this year. Whether this will actually happen though remains to be seen.—QH