Posts by Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood

About Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood

Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood is a researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, where he focuses on federal and provincial climate change policy in Canada.

What would it take to meet Canada’s 2030 climate targets?

Oct 5, 2023

By Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood and Marc Lee

Adapted from the CCPA’s fall 2023 submission to Canada’s Net-Zero Advisory Body by Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood & Marc Lee When Canada first signed the Paris Agreement way back in 2015, the commitment to reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 30% below 2005 levels by 2030 seemed far away. So far away, in fact, that in… View Article

Protest sign reading "THERE IS NO PLANET B"

Budget 2023: a risky bet on cleaner capitalism

Jun 1, 2023

By Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood, Marc Lee and Caroline Brouillette

With roughly $62 billion in new climate-related spending over the next decade, the federal government’s 2023 budget doubled down on climate action with a focus on investment in the clean economy. However, the budget locks in a particular approach to climate action—one where incentives to the private sector do the heavy lifting of growing green… View Article

Spending What It Takes: Transformational climate investments for long-term prosperity in Canada

Feb 9, 2023

By Marc Lee, Caroline Brouillette and Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood

The world is confronted with a slew of accelerating and converging crises, from climate change and biodiversity loss to energy insecurity, unaffordable living and rising inequality. In the face of these challenges, Canada must urgently and equitably decarbonize every sector of the economy both to contribute our fair share of the global climate effort and… View Article

A challenge to the 44th Parliament: Make the global fossil fuel phase-out your legacy

Oct 28, 2021

By Marc Lee and Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood

In the past five years, the federal government has brought in important climate policies — including a national carbon price and coal power phase-out — that have helped flatten Canada’s emissions curve. On the other hand, this government has championed fossil fuel extraction at home and abroad, exemplified most clearly by the purchase of the… View Article

New federal climate plan hindered by commitment to fossil fuel production

Dec 15, 2020