Canada Should Become Food Superpower
buy canada goose jacket When it comes to the Harper government’s newly announced carbon emissions targets, Jeff Rubin doesn’t mince words. buy canada goose outlet canada goose jacket
canada goose clearance “It’s a greenwash,” the former chief economist of CIBC World Markets said this week, referring to Harper’s newly announced plan to cut emissions by 30 per Canada Goose Jackets cent from 2005 levels, while omitting the oilsands. canada goose clearance
buy canada goose jacket cheap “The whole reason why Prime Minister Harper has been in so much denial of climate change is he quite rightly recognizes the implications that [climate change regulations] would have on future world oil demand.” buy canada goose jacket cheap
Canada Goose Outlet And what are those implications? A collapse in the value of uk canada goose oil prices and oil company stocks, making Canada’s uk canada goose outlet oilsands some of the most expensive oil reserves in the world to exploit economically unviable. Or, as canada goose store Rubin puts it, “a stranded asset.” Canada Goose Outlet
canada goose deals The world is shifting away from fossil fuels and towards renewable and green energy sources, buy canada goose jacket cheap and that means canada goose uk outlet the value of Canada’s oil reserves isn’t nearly what we’ve been led to believe, Rubin argues in his new book, “The Carbon Bubble.” canada goose deals
With oil prices collapsing due to oversupply, all the plans for the oilsands from rapid expansion of production to the construction of pipelines like Keystone XL and Energy East “no longer have any cheap canada goose uk economic context,” Rubin says. “The shipper agreements that (Energy East builder) Enbridge and (Keystone XL builder) TransCanada have signed aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.”
canada goose Goldman canada goose factory sale Sachs recently forecast that global oil prices will be around $55 canada goose clearance a barrel in Canada Goose Coats On Sale 2020, about $10 lower than they are trading this week, and well below the minimum of $80 a barrel needed for new oilsands projects coming online. If that prediction comes to pass, development of new oilsands projects will likely grind to a complete halt. canada goose
canada goose clearance sale But never mind new projects coming online: Rubin doubts that even current levels of production in the oilsands will be sustainable for much longer. canada goose clearance sale
cheap Canada Goose “Right now they’re [still producing] but they’re losing money. That can Canada Goose Outlet only go on for so long before markets stop funding them.” cheap Canada Goose
The high prices that justified billions in investment in the oilsands are gone, Rubin argues, and though today’s low oil prices are due to oversupply, in the future they’ll be due to something else: Lack of demand, as the world shifts to less carbon intensive forms of energy.
As a cautionary tale for Canada’s oil producers, Rubin offers the example of coal. canada goose uk shop Four years ago, coal was trading at $140 a metric ton. Today, it’s trading at around $70. are prompting power plants to switch to less carbon intensive natural gas, while extreme air pollution cheap Canada Goose in China is prompting that country to put limits on coal use.
The result? Some of North America’s largest coal companies have seen 85 to 90 per cent of their stock value wiped out in recent years, Rubin writes in his book. And that didn’t require a global consensus on a climate deal.. He canada goose coats on sale notes that the Blackrock iShares Oil Sands Index exchange traded fund which largely reflects the market value of the canada goose uk black friday oilsands canada goose black friday sale is trading some 70 per cent below its peak Canada Goose Online levels in 2008, and has seen negative returns in each of the past canada goose four years.
In other words, the “energy superpower” dream is over.
Canada Goose online And Rubin should know something about that dream: He once subscribed to it, or at least parts of it, himself. Just half a decade ago, he predicted oil would hit $225 a barrel, and Canada’s oilsands would be a crucial part of the world’s energy supply. Canada Goose online
canada goose coats So what happened to that prediction? canada goose coats
canadian goose jacket “That was a world in which the global economy grew at 5 per cent, not barely 3 per cent as it is today,” Rubin says. If the canadian goose jacket economy was still growing as Canada Goose sale quickly as it was before the Great Recession, the world would be dependent on the oilsands today, he says. canadian goose jacket
canada goose store But, as it Canada Goose online turns out, the world can’t grow that quickly when oil is above $100 a barrel, levels they were at for much of the past four years. canada goose store
That leaves Canada’s oilsands in a sort of Catch 22: “The triple digit oil prices that they require to make their economics work restrains growth,” Rubin says, so that when oil prices are high enough to justify oilsands production, the world economy is too weak to need that oil.
And with the recent collapse in oil prices, people are beginning to wake up to the notion that Canada’s oilsands may not be the country’s economic saviour.
Canada Goose Parka “That mythology is crumbling,” Rubin says. Exporting water is a touchy subject and the source of endless controversy, but Rubin says Canada can export a “value added” form of water that’s far less touchy: Food, which, after all, requires water to grow. Canada Goose Parka
canada goose black friday https://www.pick-canadagoose.com sale In his book, he canada goose clearance sale notes that with climate change, the temperature on the Prairies has already risen 1.6 degrees Celsius, lengthening the growing season. canada goose black friday sale
Canada Goose Jackets “Maybe Harper is in denial about climate change, but [these companies are] in the Prairies explaining to farmers how to grow corn,” Rubin says. Canada Goose Jackets
canada goose coats on sale He says it won’t even Canada Goose Parka take that much to become a food superpower “climate change will do the heavily lifting.” He suggests Canada could go from being a top ten global food producer to buy canada goose jacket a top three food producer in the coming canada goose coats years canada goose coats on sale.
