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New research suggests that the recent heat wave in the Pacific Northwest, which devastated communities in Canada and the United States, was at least 150 times more likely to occur due to climate change.

Researchers from the World Weather Attribution Initiative, including scientists from universities and weather agencies in North America and Europe, analyzed computer simulations to compare today’s climate with that of the past and concluded that the record breaking heat wave would have been “virtually impossible” without the human influence.

“An event of this extreme would have been virtually impossible in the past,” said Sarah Kew of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. “But we are going to see more intense and more frequent heat waves in the future.”

Scientists involved in the recently published report estimate that such events in the current climate, which is about 1.2 ° C warmer than before the start of the industrial revolution, should only occur once per millennium. However, they added that if global temperatures rose 2 ° C above pre-industrial revolution levels, heatwaves of this magnitude could occur at least once or twice a decade.

In 2020, a heat wave in Siberia caused forest fires and melting permafrost with temperatures reaching 38 ° C. The World Weather Attribution Initiative released a report indicating that climate change made this event at least 600 times more likely.

The report has yet to be peer reviewed, but scientists plan to submit it for review in the near future. Radio-Canada News has more details.

Internationally

Four global banks, including Canada’s CIBC, have announced their intention to launch a pilot platform for buying and selling voluntary carbon credits, which marks the latest sign of the financial community’s growing interest in the booming carbon offset market. CIBC, UK group NatWest, National Australia Bank and Brazil’s Itaú Unibanco said their Project Carbon initiative will create a more liquid market for carbon offsets and help clients manage risks associated with climate costs.

“Climate change is one of the most important challenges of our time. We help our personal business and banking clients understand and reduce their carbon footprint through partnerships like Project Carbon, ”said Alison Rose, CEO of NatWest Group. Reuters has the whole story.

The Norwegian government announced on Wednesday that the country will spend $ 1.2 billion over the next five years to support renewable energy projects that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries. The climate fund, administered by the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries, will start operating in 2022 and will focus on reducing dependence on fossil fuels, especially coal.

“To succeed in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, especially in Asia, we must mobilize more business capital,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in a statement. “I urge investors to work with the climate investment fund when it becomes operational. “

Meanwhile, a United Nations human rights expert calls on member states to impose economic sanctions on Myanmar’s oil and gas sector to cripple the military group that seized power five months ago.

“Revenues from the oil and gas sector are a financial lifeline for the junta and are estimated to be close to what the junta needs to maintain the security forces that keep it in power. They should be arrested, ”Thomas Andrews, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Reuters also has more on this story.

Thursday morning at 8:42 am, West Texas Intermediate was trading at US $ 71.94 and Brent Crude at US $ 73.25.

In Canada

The Government of Alberta plans to join with TC Energy in challenging US President Joe Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline. The Canadian energy company announced on July 2 that it had filed a notice that it would seek $ 15 billion “in damages it has suffered as a result of the US government’s breach of its obligations under the ‘NAFTA’. It would be the first time that a level of government has been directly involved in a NAFTA dispute as an investor, according to legal experts.

“It would set a precedent. There has never been a NAFTA Chapter 11 arbitration where a government has been a party to the case, so it will break new ground, ”said Lawrence Herman, a Toronto-based international trade lawyer at Herman Associations and Cassidy, Levy, Kent LLP. “All of the cases between Canada and the United States have only involved investors challenging the actions of the government, but here you have another government, a sub-unit of Canada, involved in a dispute process.” the Calgary Herald see you.

Remaining in Alberta, the University of Calgary’s School of Engineering is suspending the admission of new students to its Bachelor of Oil and Gas Engineering program. The decision comes against a backdrop of historically low listing and a rapidly changing energy landscape.

Professor Arin Sen, head of the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, said the school has no plans to completely drop out of oil and gas studies, as there are still many opportunities for the engineering to pursue a career in oil and gas.

It should be noted that students who had already started their degree in Oil and Gas Engineering will be able to complete the program. Radio-Canada News has this story.

Finally, the Minister of Innovation François-Philippe Champagne announced a $ 25 million investment in Svante Inc. to financially support the company’s plan to develop and commercialize its new low-cost carbon capture technology which will prevent significant releases of carbon dioxide from industrial sites such as cement factories and blue hydrogen.

“Vancouver is the Silicon Valley of the development of carbon capture technology, and we are very proud to have our global headquarters, our R&D and engineering test center, and our first commercial filter manufacturing facility in Canada. Canada, ”said Claude Letourneau, President and CEO of Svante Inc.

The Canadian Crude Index was trading at US $ 57.44 and the Western Canadian Select at US $ 58.70 this morning at 8:43 am

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