Client alert: Canada: Federal Government shortlists eight types of projects for the development of carbon offset protocols — ATTORNEY ADVERTISING Client alert 14 August 2020 Canada: Federal Government shortlists eight types of projects for the development of carbon offset protocols In Brief On July 2, 2020, the Government of Canada released a much-anticipated discussion paper on the proposed Federal Greenhouse Gas Offset System. The paper clarifies how protocols for carbon offset credits will be developed…
The momentum arguably started with words and not actions- namely corporate commitments around energy use reductions as part of a broader sustainability and carbon emissions reduction initiative. Then came the more challenging part – meeting those targets: first with energy efficiency improvements at the facility level and then with the purchase of renewable energy, such as solar, wind and biogas. And the volumes have quickly become staggering, with many brand name companies, from outside…
The recently announced Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility (“LEEFF”) will require loan recipients to report on climate-change and sustainability-related risks and opportunities. This reporting will likely require companies to develop forward-looking plans to contribute to Canada meeting its net-zero by 2050 goal under the Paris Agreement. Key Takeaways Loan recipients will be required to publish an annual report consistent with the Recommendations of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (“TCFD Recommendations”).Reporting…
Jonathan Cocker’s Canadian chapter of 4th edition of The Environment and Climate Change Law Review is now available.
Following some recent key milestones for the tire-derived fuels industries, it appears that TDF is now positioned for significant growth across Canada in the coming years. It hasn’t been easy in light of long-standing environmental concerns and pressures for circular economy solutions for end-of-life tires but TDF may well be poised to gain ready acceptance as part of Canada’s resource recovery strategy. Nova Scotia Legal Challenge Unsuccessful The watershed moment for TDF in Canada arguably…
After the uncertain rise and precipitous fall of a number of Canada’s energy-from-waste (EfW) industries, it may have been easy to underestimate the commercial opportunities for renewable natural gas (RNG). After all, the corporate community lost much of its interest in capital intensive and technologically uncertain EfW projects at some point following the 2008 crash. With a few notable exceptions, EfW became a local, and mostly municipal, waste management issue, usually undertaken on a small scale. …
Jonathan Cocker’s abstract on North America’s first circular economy law was accepted by the Yale University Journal of Industrial Ecology’s special issue on Material Efficiency for Climate Change Mitigation.
The transition to a circular economy, including the move to a form of full Extended Producer Responsibility, invariably requires adapting international models to local political, economic and environmental circumstances. In many developing countries, one of the most challenging questions is how to incorporate the existing and often well-entrenched informal waste recovery sector within regulatory models which make international product makers the responsible party for operating reverse supply chains for their end-of-life goods and related packaging.…
Jonathan Cocker is the published author of the Canada Chapter in the third edition of The Environment and Climate Change Law, which was released in late February, 2019. To read the publication in its entirety, and learn more about The Environment and Climate Change Law Review, click HERE.
Marisa Martin and Alexandra Carranza’s article, “Encouraging Private Investments in REDD+ in the Post-2020 Paris Agreement World” has been published in IETA Insights Quarterly Report: Greenhouse Gas Market Report, No. 3, 2018. The article (pages 13-16), discusses how Peru is approaching nesting projects, the challenges ahead, and how the country can open the door for increased private sector capital. To read the article in its entirety, click HERE.