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Mark Carney won the April 28, 2025, federal election, in part, because many Canadians believed he would be the best to face up to Trump.  Trump often refers to Canada as the 51st state. The irony is since then Carney has engaged in a plethora of initiatives to incrementally sleepwalk Canada towards Americanization of segments of the Canadian political energy and economic landscapes. Bill C-5: Fast-tracking projects of “national interest” One of Carney first legislative accomplishments was the hastily adopted Bill...

Renewables and Reality In May 2025, India announced it has raised its renewables target of 500 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 to 900 GW. The Indian government claimed it is on track with 475 GW of installed renewables capacity in 2025, making it the world’s third-largest producer of wind and solar energy. India’s Nationally Determined Contribution calls for 50% of the country’s energy requirements stemming from non-fossil fuels by 2030. This where the narrative gets complex.  Renewables are underutilized.  Actual renewables power generation...

The Canadian 2025 election landscape Midway through the 2025 Canadian election campaign, the discourse is captivated by two themes, 1) Canada’s response to Trump’s tariffs; and 2) an all-party race to the bottom for lowering taxes.  On the latter, information is not provided on cuts in government services and programs required, the consequences of due to less government revenues. Indeed, the party campaigns offer little on what is proposed for governing over the next 4 years or more. Collateral damage, the climate...

Nuclear cost and time overruns While nuclear power has gained interest as a low carbon solution, cost and time overruns have dampened this interest. A Boston University study of 400 nuclear plants over 80 years indicated that, on average, building nuclear plants cost double the before construction projections, and 64% exceeded their timelines.  Average costs go 120% over original budgets, with the majority more than doubling. High maintenance costs add to the unattractiveness of the nuclear option, in particular, the old reactors...

Electric vehicle (EV) imports from China will account for 25% of EV sales in Europe in 2024. Now China-based EV and battery firms are on the verge of coming to North America and there is no such thing as batteries without content from China.  This is the context for U.S. protectionist legislation. What follows is a most comprehensive plethora of reasons on why 1) protectionism won’t work and 2) North American and European EV manufactures are vulnerable to disruptive market threats...

Expectations for COP29 in Azerbaijan, based COP28 in the United Arab Emirates? The light getting in though the cracks is few countries are immune to competition with China’s sweeping expeditious green transition. China’s brisk energy transition intentions are three-fold, decarbonization of its economy, domination of global clean tech manufacturing and reduced dependence on imported fossil fuels. Renewables The COP28 final statement calls for a tripling of renewables capacity by 2030.  China had an objective to triple renewables capacity by 2030 too, but China...

New vison, clean tech acquisitions and fossil fuel divestments Under the leadership of Shell CEO, Ben van Beurden, 2014 to 2022, it really seemed that Shell was taking climate change seriously.  In 2017, Ben van Beurden purported that the “biggest challenge” for the company was to acquire public acceptance.  He asserted “If we are not careful, broader public support for the sector will wane.” Perhaps, the most astonishing component of the new orientation was the Ben van Beurden plan to divest...

The European Union (EU) target for an energy transition and energy independence is 2027.  EU just-in-time fossil fuel substitutes from countries other than Russia has got liquefied natural gas (LNG) and oil exporters and importers euphoric.  These latter stakeholders are in for a big surprise.  The EU REPowerEU strategy resulted in gas-fired power demand peaking in 2023, with an overall gas consumption drop by 29% to 52% by 2030 or, at the very least, no LNG import growth.  Somber...

Many stakeholders from Ukraine, the European Union and around the globe, including just-in-time working groups, international financing institutions and the private sector, are currently engaged in "Made in Ukraine" green reconstruction agenda.  The challenges are colossal. Half of Ukraine’s power generation infrastructure has been destroyed or badly damaged.  It makes little sense to reconstruct a tangled web of centralized energy distribution networks.  Rather the emerging consensus among key players is for decentralized area-specific clean energy solutions that can be built...