Want to keep up with climate news, law, and policy? Sign up for the Green Economy Law Monthly Newsletter here. On Monday, Canada’s federal government proposed a framework policy to phase out certain “inefficient” fossil fuel industry subsidies. Environment minister Steven Guilbeault announced the impending guidelines during an interview with Bloomberg News earlier this month. The proposed measures represent fulfillment of a G20 commitment to "phase out over the medium term inefficient fossil fuel subsidies", made back in 2009. While no deadline for the phase out was set then, Canada’s most rec ..read more

Want to keep up with climate news, law, and policy? Sign up for the Green Economy Law Monthly Newsletter here. On Tuesday, Ontario’s Superior Court struck down several provisions of the province’s controversial Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act, an “ag-gag” law which acts to shield the animal agriculture industry from reasonable scrutiny and conceal its systemic cruelty. Passed in 2020, the Act made it effectively illegal to conduct undercover investigations within farms, slaughterhouses, and other meat, dairy, egg, and fur industry operations in Ontario. Notably, for ..read more

Want to keep up with climate news, law, and policy? Sign up for the Green Economy Law Monthly Newsletter here. On December 13, Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal released a unanimous decision to revive a previously-dismissed youth climate action case and send it to trial. La Rose v. His Majesty the King was filed in 2019 by 15 youth plaintiffs from seven Canadian provinces and one territory. The plaintiffs sought to hold Canada’s federal government accountable for its failure to appropriately address climate change, and for the resulting harm to young people. One year later, a Federal ..read more

Want to keep up with climate news, law, and policy? Sign up for the Green Economy Law Monthly Newsletter here. On March 6, 2024, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new rules that, per the SEC press release, will “enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures by public companies in public offerings.”  The rules will take effect 60 days following publication in the Federal Register and require publicly-traded companies in the US to disclose climate-related risks that may have a “material impact” on business strategies, finances, and/or operations. Compan ..read more

Green Economy Law Professional Corporation is a boutique Toronto-based law firm with a focus on green business startups, psychedelics, and housing. For more information, please visit our firm website at www.greeneconomylaw.com or contact the firm at info@greeneconomylaw.com. Authors: Veronica Kunkel, Monika Bar, and Marc Z. Goldgrub Disclaimer: This report does not and should not be understood to constitute legal, medical, financial, investing, or any other kind of professional advice. Nor should anything herein be understood as a recommendation to buy, hold, or sell any security. The cover o ..read more

Want to keep up with climate news, law, and policy? Sign up for the Green Economy Law Monthly Newsletter here. On December 13, Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal released a unanimously decision to revive a previously-dismissed youth climate action case and send it to trial. La Rose v. His Majesty the King was filed in 2019 by 15 youth plaintiffs from seven Canadian provinces and one territory. The plaintiffs sought to hold Canada’s federal government accountable for its failure to appropriately address climate change, and for the resulting harm to young people. One year later, a Federal Cou ..read more

Want to keep up with climate news, law, and policy? Sign up for the Green Economy Law Monthly Newsletter here. On December 13, 2023, COP28 concluded in Dubai with an agreement heralded, perhaps too optimistically, as "the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era." Below, we’ve created a summary of the conference in 10 points, covering its five greatest achievements and five most notable failures. Successes 1. Agreement to “Transition” from Fossil Fuels Perhaps the most significant achievement of the conference was inclusion, in the conference’s final “global stocktake” agreement, of a ..read more

Want to keep up with climate news, law, and policy? Sign up for the Green Economy Law Monthly Newsletter here. On Thursday, December 7, 2023, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault announced the draft Regulatory Framework for an Oil and Gas Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap at COP28 in Dubai. The framework outlines a set of regulations - promulgated pursuant to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 - that will establish a cap-and-trade program for Canada’s oil and gas industry, with a sectoral limit 35-38% below 2019 levels. The cap will progressively low ..read more

Want to keep up with climate news, law, and policy? Sign up for the Green Economy Law Monthly Newsletter here. On November 16, a federal court quashed Canada’s ‘plastics ban’ in a lawsuit filed on behalf of various ‘Big Plastic’ industry members, including Dow Chemical, Nova Chemicals Corporation, and Imperial Oil. In the judgment, Justice Angela Furlanetto ruled that a federal regulatory order, which added plastic manufactured items (PMI) to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act’s (CEPA) list of toxic substances, was “both unreasonable and unconstitutional”. The Justice further state ..read more

Want to keep up with climate news, law, and policy? Sign up for the Green Economy Law Monthly Newsletter here. On Monday, November 27, 2023, Alberta’s legislature tabled a resolution to invoke its controversial Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act for the first time. The Sovereignty Act purports to allow Alberta’s legislature to pass resolutions identifying specific federal legislation or policies as either unconstitutional or causing harm to Albertans. On that basis, the legislature can ostensibly authorize the executive to suspend or modify operation of the federal initiative ..read more