Sunday, February 16, 2025
Policy POV: Prohibition affecting environmental claims
By Colin Isaacs Industry compliance seems to be slow getting off the ground with a simple but important piece of environmental law affecting environmental claims…
Colin Isaacs
Policy POV: Resignations impact federal proposals on the environment
It is turning out to be the winter of our discontent. There have been some high-level resignations for the federal government in recent weeks, starting…
Policy POV: The struggle to end plastic pollution persists
The recent fifth round of negotiations toward a United Nations convention to end plastic pollution ended in failure, according to the popular press. But the…
Navigating net zero and the new realities for Canadian competitiveness
By Colin Isaacs In October 2024 the Canadian Climate Institute, which bills itself as Canada’s leading climate change policy research organization, and the Net-Zero Advisory…
Policy POV: Addressing problems with public infrastructure
By Colin Isaacs For four months this summer many of the one and a half million residents of Calgary were asked to participate in an…
Policy POV: New legislation lacks clear environmental leadership
By Colin Isaacs It seems that the federal government really does not like to see businesses providing environmental leadership. At least that is the conclusion…
Connecting companies, institutes and authorities in the Circular Hotspot
By Freek van Eijk The Holland Circular Hotspot connects companies, knowledge institutes and authorities to support international collaboration and knowledge exchange on Dutch circular economy.…
Policy POV: Advancing environmental solutions and addressing the procurement problem
By Colin Isaacs The Ontario Environment Industry Association (ONEIA) held its annual Business + Policy Forum in May under the theme “Advancing Environmental Solutions in…
Policy POV: Tackling plastics pollution at home and abroad
The Government of Canada is doing its part to tackle plastic pollution, both at home and abroad, as it helps to chart a roadmap toward…
Policy POV: Green plan gone but not forgotten
The contrast between the environmental policies of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, led by the late Brian Mulroney, and the Conservative Party of Canada,…
Exploring alternative systems and cleantech for wastewater treatment
Many readers of Environment Journal will be familiar with the concept of distributed power generation, defined somewhat loosely as the usually small-scale generation of electricity…
Policy POV: Ontario’s electrification and energy transition panel report
The final report of Ontario’s Electrification and Energy Transition Panel was released on January 19, 2024. The report is expected to help achieve collaborative and integrated…
Policy POV: Rights pertaining to environmentally significant proposals
The new year is a suitable time for environmental practitioners to take stock of new or revised regulations, rules and recent developments impacting the sector.…
Policy POV: Nature based solutions versus ecological disasters
Observers of the COP28 climate negotiations, indeed of any recent discussion about greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, will have heard numerous references to nature based solutions.…
ONEIA’s Environment Industry Day focuses on building smarter and faster
Yesterday the Ontario Environment Industry Association (ONEIA) hosted its annual Environment Industry Day at Queen’s Park. Environment and cleantech leaders were at the Legislature meeting…
Policy POV: Resolving the PFAS problem
The Ontario Environment Industry Association became one of the first Canadian industry groups to hold a conference on the topic when it held a PFAS…
Policy POV: Industrial Pollution Penalties on the Rise?
A recent study found that in many parts of the City of Toronto drivers found it cheaper to park illegally and to pay the parking…
Policy POV: Plastic pollution hotspots and circular solutions
When Ontario’s Blue Box household recycling initiative was launched in the 1980s it was lauded as being at least one of the major answers to…
Policy POV: How to validate your environmental claims and avoid greenwashing
The terms “greenwash” and “greenwashing” were reportedly first used by American ecologist Jay Westerveld in the mid-1980s to describe the practice of making invalid or…
Policy POV: Canada needs to turn on the taps for water cleantech
A June 2023 article from the Yale University School of the Environment with the intriguing title “Beyond the Yuck Factor: Cities Turn to ‘Extreme’ Water…
Collaboration on clean energy and more underscored at G7 summit
The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well…
Policy POV: Barriers to effectively resolving environmental risks
Politicians are not the only people who too often seem to believe that tough regulations can solve all of our environmental challenges. It is often…
Policy POV: The big-ticket green budget
The concept of a green economy, led by green budgets from governments, has been around for several decades but this year’s budget may be the…
Policy Perspectives: Why is Canada having such a tough time meeting emission reduction targets?
A recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) on global methane emissions helps clarify why Canada is having such a difficult time meeting its…