Last month, Alberta didn’t just announce it had transitioned entirely off coal as an energy source; the province kicked the fossil fuel six years ahead of a wildly ambitious schedule. The scale of achievement this represents defies exaggeration—and contains a warning for oil fans everywhere. […] what happened to coal is coming for oil next.
Virtually every major analyst that isn’t an oil company (and even some of them, like BP) now expects global demand for oil to peak around 2030, if not sooner; McKinsey, Rystad Energy, DNV, and the International Energy Agency all agree. This places Canada in a uniquely vulnerable position. Oil is Canada’s biggest export by a mile, a vital organ of our economy: we sold $123 billion worth of it in 2022 (cars came in second, at just under $30 billion). Three quarters of that oil is exported as bitumen—the most expensive, emissions-heavy form of petroleum in the market and therefore the hardest to sell. That makes us incredibly sensitive to fluctuations in global demand. Think of coal as the canary in our oil patch.
The walrus got two things wrong, right in the headline:
Canada
Alberta
On for dear life
…the rest of Canada hostage
Other than that, good title.
Other than selling mediocre coffee and McMansions to each other, Canada has precious little else. That’s why we cling like limpets to extractive industry: without it, we’ve got nothing because our governments have comprehensively failed to develop much of an industry, preferring to give tax breaks to oil barons and house traders.
Not relevant, but am I the only one who sees that preview graphic and hears the “Level Passed” music from Super Mario Bros?
all I can hear right now is detachable detachable detachable penis
I’m being a bit cynical here, but is it because the coal comes from BC?
No. If you want to be cynical, ask if they are still burning natural gas.
The natural gas comes from Alberta, the coal comes from BC though, no?
I think they are coal free ( regardless of source ). However, they are not “fossil fuel” free as in believe they still burn natural gas to generate electricity ( more than ever I think ).
Better but maybe not what people think when they boast about being “coal free”.
Don’t worry, we can fall back on our #1 driver of GDP… real estate!
Canada is run by oil companies. They need to make hay while the sun shines. When the price crashes, their whales will already have quietly moved their assets elsewhere, and the people who actually use Canada as a place to live instead of as a colonialist state that exists to serve corporations will just be fucked. Tell me that’s not the actual plan.
