Jonathan Wilkinson

Natural Resources Canada is tweaking its onshore emissions reduction fund in the wake of scathing reports from the federal climate watchdog that found the program amounted to little more than a fossil fuel subsidy.

The government is planning to plant up to 320 million trees a year to meet the prime minister’s target to put an extra two billion trees in the ground by 2030.

Getting the world to net-zero emissions by 2050 will require the production of critical minerals and metals to grow sixfold over the next 30 years, the International Energy Agency declared in a report earlier this year — and it found the current pace of growth isn't even close.

Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said on Friday, November 26, 2021, a pandemic aid program to help oil and gas companies cut their methane emissions will be revisited now that the industry is back on its feet.

The cascading natural disasters in British Columbia have destroyed key pieces of infrastructure that experts say should trigger a nationwide risk assessment to prepare for Canada’s rapidly changing climate.

But Jonathan Wilkinson also says the Liberals are not singling out the oil and gas sector to do an unfair amount of heavy lifting in the fight against climate change because all industries that contribute to the problem have to be part of the solution.

Tim McMillan, CEO of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers says,"We've taken some very clear steps that are inconsistent with the rest of the world."

Canada may be able to climb down from its perch of being the worst among the G20 for international support for fossil fuels after signing on to a key energy financing plan at COP26.

A global coalition of private companies called Green Hydrogen Catapult is on a mission to scale up green hydrogen production and lower production costs so it is competitive with fossil fuels.

Thursday was a big day for Canada at COP26 — the country pledged to end foreign fossil fuel finance by 2022 and Quebec signed on to the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance — but observers are disappointed the country isn’t moving faster to ditch the planet’s dirtiest fossil fuel: coal. 

Student Energy’s Global Youth Energy Outlook got more than 40,000 young people from 129 countries to share their views on the transition to clean energy. The vast majority want it to happen much faster than their governments and industry are currently moving.

Canada’s National Observer asked Jonathan Wilkinson how he will approach his new role as natural resources minister after serving as environment and climate change minister from 2019 to 2021.

Alberta politicians are warning the federal Liberal government that caps on greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas will have to be set in consultation with the province.

Newly minted Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said on Wednesday, October 27, 2021, there is nothing 'really new" in the political rhetoric between Alberta and Ottawa around climate change this week, and shrugged off any suggestion his appointment will make that relationship more difficult than it already is.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cut his special representative for the Prairies from cabinet, signalling the Liberal government will take a different approach to its relationship with the West.