A group of delegates will spend the week in the nation's capital comparing notes on why plastic is, in fact, not so fantastic. 

Driving the news: Ottawa will play host to delegates from 174 countries this week for the fourth round of United Nations plastic treaty negotiations. The committee will look to make progress on a plastic-reduction agreement ahead of final talks in South Korea in November. 

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. 

If the rollout of the national plastics ban feels a bit chaotic, well, that’s because it is. 

Driving the news: Under a new bylaw effective today, Toronto businesses will have to ask customers if they want single-use plastic items like utensils, straws, napkins, paper bags, and plastic containers with their takeaway orders, or else face fines from $500 up to $100,000.

If you stumble across a bottle of 2024 vintage B.C. wine when perusing the liquor store this year, we recommend you pick it up. It could be a collector’s item one day. 

Driving the news: There will be “an almost complete write-off” of B.C. wine this year after a cold snap that hit the province last month wiped out as much as 99% of its wine grape harvest, according to early industry estimates.

Everyone’s favourite yoga pant maker is in some hot water over its ‘green’ claims.

Driving the news: Lululemon is facing a complaint from a climate-focused non-profit alleging the athleisure company is misleading customers about its environmental impact, joining the growing list of companies facing investigations over so-called “greenwashing.” 

The corporate sector’s mad dash for AI may be leaving sustainability goals behind.

Driving the news: Data centres are driving up electricity demand, which is expected to double by 2026. While some of this can be attributed to more internet use and electrification in countries like China, a big culprit is AI, which requires massive amounts of data processing.

Just like the sober-curious crowd, western provinces are partaking in Dry February… though not by their own choice. 

Driving the news: Alberta is talking with major water licence holders to sign water-sharing deals as dried-up rivers and reservoirs are primed to devastate the agricultural sector. 

Here’s a brain teaser for you: Why are environmental and Indigenous groups rallying against a project that aims to be a key part of Canada’s net-zero transition? 

What happened: A Québec court is ruling on whether or not to stop the construction of Northvolt’s $7 billion EV battery plant outside of Montréal. The legal hurdle comes from an environmentalist group claiming the plant will harm important wetlands. 

Canada might have more trees than stars in the Milky Way, but that doesn’t mean we should take them for granted.

Driving the news: Canada has “downplayed the impact of the forest industry,” one researcher told the NYT after reviewing a new study on logging in Ontario and Québec.

The UN COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai went into overtime as environment ministers made like us in university and pulled an all-nighter desperately trying to finish a project.

Driving the news: COP28’s president is expected to announce the conference’s final draft of commitments sometime this morning despite the conference technically ending yesterday. Negotiations went deep into the night over how strict fossil fuel reduction goals should be.