The western Canadian province of Alberta has one of the world's largest deposits of oil, in tar sands that produce particularly heavy and polluting crude.

Tapping that oil has helped make Canada the only G7 nation whose emissions have risen each year since the Paris Agreement on climate change came into effect - a big problem, especially with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau now pledging to nearly halve the country's planet-heating emissions by 2030.

Could capturing and storing more carbon from oil production offer a way for Canada to forge a lower-carbon economy? 

Environmentalists say putting CO2 from fossil fuel extraction back underground simply delays the transition to renewable energy, allowing companies to put a greener face on old, dirty fuels.

But Alberta officials, who fear heavy job losses as the world moves away from fossil fuels, think the technology could protect workers and smooth the shift to a lower-carbon economy while still tapping its oil reserves.

Alberta is predicted to see the fastest growth in renewable energy capacity in Canada between 2018 and 2023. But "we have a strong future ahead in oil and gas" too, predicts Sonya Savage, the province's energy minister. "It's not the oil and gas that is a concern, it's the carbon emissions," she says.

In many places around the world, however, financing for continuing or expanding fossil fuel use is coming under growing pressure.

Governments that provide loans, insurance or other guarantees for fossil fuel infrastructure and operations abroad, through their export credit agencies, are likely violating international customary, climate change and human rights law and could end up in court, legal experts say.

"If they continue doing this, they are breaching international law," warned Jorge E. Viñuales, a law professor at the University of Cambridge.

More countries are starting to back away from such support - but G20 nations provided a whopping $40 billion annually from 2016-2018, says advocacy group Oil Change International.

In Turkey, still rising climate-heating emissions - along with population growth and water waste - are adding up to worsening water scarcity.

Higher global emissions, combined with COVID-19 economic slowdowns, also are making it harder for the world's poor to afford the cooling they need as heatwaves become more frequent and intense.

Without more action to curb those emissions, planetary warming will likely drive dramatic sea level rise from Antarctic melting that could leave low-lying countries like Bangladesh increasingly unable to grow food - and grappling with a surge in migration, researchers say.

"People are trying to adapt, but adaptation has limits," Atiq Rahman, head of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, told our reporter Naimul Karim. 

Looking for a bit of fun - and relief from climate anxiety? See if you can "Survive the Century" by deciding how to keep the planet cooler in a new online game.

See you next week!

Laurie

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