“There couldn’t be a better moment for this conference and this conversation. For years, those of us who work on climate have been trying to increase public engagement in the issues and renewable energy companies have been trying to get people excited about the incredible opportunity. It has been a struggle. Social change isn’t linear. It happens at tipping point moments. For climate change and clean energy, this is that moment. Tzeporah Berman THIS IS YOUR MOMENT Generate Conference, November 6, 2019 The price of renewable energy is dropping, technological innovation is skyrocketing, the need for renewable energy generation at scale could not be more acute, and public momentum is unbelievable . ”
“Just the other day we all woke up to this headline. Double the power output of our current electricity supply, just for transportation! There is also, as you know, heat, industry and everything else.”
“A few days before that 10,000 people rallied around the corner. A month before that 100,000 people in Vancouver, close to a VANCOUVER, OCT 25, 2019 million across the country. Our kids are scared. They are marching in the streets.”
“2/3rds of Canadians just voted for federal parties promising aggressive climate action. Our Provincial government is driving forward on climate change.”
The public is now with you.
“The public knows aggressive climate action will increase jobs -- and they have faith it will more than replace the jobs lost in oil and gas.”
CLEAN ENERGY PROJECTS ARE THE TANGIBLE SOLUTION TO THE CLIMATE CRISIS… “And we need tangible solutions.”
AND YOUR INDUSTRY WILL PROSPER…
... IF YOU EMBRACE THE MOMENTUM
IF YOU RECOGNIZE THE MOMENTUM IS DRIVEN BY REAL CRISIS “If you recognize the momentum is driven by real crisis, YOU are the solution to a catastrophic problem. You have to engage in the battle. Doing so will create space for your industry to flourish . Right now we have the luxury to plan in BC. At current rates of global emissions that will not last long. There is not a lot of spacious long term planning happening in California right now. 2.35 million Californians without power for days, 200,000 ordered to evacuate - in Los Angeles, in the Bay Area. Friends and clean energy advocates are scrambling for places to sleep, marking themselves ’safe’ on social media.” California today
PEOPLE ARE DYING AND SUFFERING AROUND THE WORLD • Jakarta isn’t planning its energy transition - they are racing to move the city before rising oceans drown the Indonesian capital. • At least 21 cities in India, including New Delhi, are projected to run out of groundwater by 2020. • Megacity Chennai was already functionally out of water this summer. Temperatures hit 41C for nine days in June, with a high of 43C. • Cape Town’s Day Zero, the city stopped water for agriculture, residents had only access at centralized tanks.
AND HERE AT HOME “In two years BC spent close to a billion dollars fighting fires. Thousands of British Columbians were forced to evacuate their homes and flee ahead of the unpredictable and aggressive wildfires.”
“The United Nations now says that with current rates of emissions we can expect 1 billion refugees by 2050. Last year we had 65 million refugees globally. And we are not handling it well…”
“This moment is driven by threat. This is the moral crisis of our age. YOU CAN BE THE LOCAL, TANGIBLE SOLUTION TO THE GREAT MORAL AND HUMAN CRISIS HUMANITY HAS EVER FACED.”
CLIMATE SAFETY IS A RACE AGAINST FOSSIL FUELS “It is your race against fossil fuels. Ultimately the world needs renewable energy to overtake and replace fossil fuel energy. And right now you and the planet are losing.”
“Many from the industry will argue that it is about reducing emissions intensity, that is, cleaning up oil and gas production. But we don’t need to more efficiently destroy the planet. TOO MUCH FOSSIL We now have enough oil gas and coal under production or under construction to take us FUELS well past two degrees . ALREADY That means any new projects, any new oil and gas expansion is inconsistent with a safe climate. That’s why the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that if we are to stay below two degrees all countries and all industries need to reduce overall emissions now. ”
THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY IS FINANCING DIVISION SOWING DOUBT UNDERMINING MOMENTUM “The oil and gas industry in Canada is trying to play both sides of the fence so they continue to expand while claiming to recognize the climate threat. On the surface they support climate policy while weakening climate legislation. The reason the state of New York and others are suing Exxon is because Exxon knew . Rex Tillerson is testifying in court this week because oil companies have known how their products fuel climate chaos since the 70’s and have successfully covered up the science and sown doubt. We like to think we are different in Canada. In fact we like to get along so much that I have been told it’s impolite to talk about oil and gas expansion as part of the problem. The fact is yesterday we found out that the fossil fuel sector lobbied Federal officials 11,452 between 2011 and 2018, or roughly six times a day.”
FOSSILS ARE UNDERMINING CLIMATE PROGRESS Fossil industry lobbies Canadian officials 6 times per day “And it’s working. Climate policy is weakened and increased production is celebrated, even as royalties drop and employment is decimated by automation.”
THEY ARE EATING YOUR LUNCH “Oil and gas is driving the dialogue in Canada, while racking up billions in tax breaks and subsidies. And even at this moment in history, they are knocking out clean energy solutions like electric heat pumps.”
IT’S TIME TO MAKE THE DECISION: OUR CHILDREN OR THE FOSSIL INDUSTRY “It’s time for the renewable energy industry in BC to pick a side. From what I saw this morning you are betting on the wrong horse.”
THE NEXT BIG FIGHT IS OVER FOSSIL GAS IN B.C.
B.C. GAS AND LNG: THE NEXT OILSANDS? The coming fight in BC is over fossil gas.
GAS IS NOT CLEAN, CHEAP, OR NECESSARY • 25% of today’s global warming comes from methane Gas is a Blockade to a clean future, not a bridge. • “Fracking is turning huge swathes of Northern BC into an industrial sacrifice zone - resulting in an unprecedented fragmentation of the landscape, threatening at-risk species, causing earthquakes and threatening community drinking water – its not a clean industry. Fracking is being banned in many places; the UK banned fracking last week. But here in BC new electricity transmission is being built to expand the fracking industry. BC’s new generation of clean power supply is being sucked into expanding fracking . • Entire transmission lines, funded by government just to fuel the gas industry. • 92 dams built just for fracking that have been built without permits completely unregulated. In the agricultural land reserve. How much water is being used? Don’t know. It’s unregulated even though water removal is permanent. • Like the oilsands the scale is staggering -- and the world is just waking up.
GAS IS A FOSSIL FUEL: METHANE • 84 times more potent than CO2 over 20 years • 30 times worse over 100 years “As far as the atmosphere is concerned gas is just another fossil fuel. It is not clean energy --it is almost pure methane, 87 times more potent over 20 years and 36 times hotter over 100 years than carbon dioxide. Industry has fought back on regulations, and weakened mandatory monitoring (only 7% of oil and gas facilities will even be monitored three times a year) when we know that there is daily leakage from 35% of inactive wells and 85% active gas wells in BC. BC’s methane regulations fall short of other jurisdictions and our real world emissions are at least 2.5 times higher than reported. ”
GAS DRIVES US FAR FROM SAFETY “Fossil gas is not clean – it’s a global carbon disaster. T o stay at 1.5 degrees, our country’s goal, we would have to stay on the red line. That is not where the gas industry is heading. Fossil gas is not a climate solution – it’s driving us in the opposite direction from our Paris goals.”
CANADIAN EXPANSION IS A GLOBAL PROBLEM… Emissions unlocked by new Canadian oil and gas development 2018-2050 Canadians like to think we are a small part of the climate problem. Our Prime Minister (and BC’s premier) talk about LNG and gas as part of the global climate solution but Canada’s plans to expand oil and gas are a huge part of the global problem. Close to 80% of the planned oil and gas expansion over the next five years is in Canada and the US. Canada’s planned oil and gas expansion is the equivalent of adding 200 coal plants to the world between now and 2050.
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