Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.
- John Quincy Adams
Carney says consumer carbon tax 'isn't working,' promises green incentives
Mark Carney's Green Gamble: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Canada’s next climate crossroads isn’t about oil or wind—it’s about whether we’re buying into a green dream, a strategic con, or both. And Mark Carney is holding the playbook.
The Good: Vision, Markets, and a Global Seat at the Table
Let’s not kid ourselves—Mark Carney isn’t some garden-variety politician preaching environmental morality from the sidelines. He’s played in the big leagues: former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor, UN climate envoy, and founder of GFANZ (the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero).
This man knows how to move capital, and he’s trying to move it green.
He’s also not lying when he says Canada can be a global beacon for clean energy, even in oil and gas.
The Pathways Alliance’s $16.5-billion carbon capture project may be controversial, but it’s real infrastructure, backed by real dollars, with real emissions-reduction potential.
Carney has also championed climate-related financial disclosures, co-developing the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) rules now being adopted by economies representing over half the global GDP.
He understands that markets need predictability and accountability to drive change.
And here’s the key: Carney doesn’t just see green policy as a moral imperative—he frames it as market strategy.
His plan to issue project decisions within two years instead of five is pragmatic and business-friendly. That’s smart policy, not pipe dreams.
“Clean energy is going to be increasingly important to competitiveness.”
— Mark Carney, April 9, 2025
The Bad: Waffling, Half-Measures, and an Identity Crisis
But here’s where the wheels start to come off Carney’s climate bus.
Despite praising carbon pricing in his book as the “cornerstone” of good climate policy, he’s now ditched the consumer carbon tax, citing divisiveness.
That may be politically convenient, but it reeks of pandering. Carney had the chance to lead with courage—and he blinked.
Worse still, his platform is missing critical planks: no mandatory climate disclosures, no green investment taxonomy, no 1.5°C-aligned transition plans, even though he’s spent years chastising Canada for dragging its heels.
Where’s the follow-through?
And let’s not forget: Canada is not on track to meet its 2030 climate targets. Oil and gas emissions are rising, not falling.
Saying we’ll “dominate the market” by increasing oil and gas production—even with carbon capture—is a dangerous tightrope walk that borders on delusion.
The question becomes: Is Carney enabling Big Oil’s survival with a green gloss, or is he genuinely leading a pragmatic transition?
It’s not clear. And that’s a problem.
The Ugly: Green Finance Is Splintering—and So Is the Truth
Let’s talk about GFANZ. The alliance Carney helped birth in a flurry of climate optimism at COP26 is now falling apart.
Major U.S. and Canadian banks have bailed out, fearful of antitrust backlash under Trump 2.0.
The Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) has been defanged. Institutions no longer need firm targets—just vague talk of "mobilizing capital."
This isn’t green leadership. It’s green-washed collapse.
Then there’s the corporate capture. CEOs of major Canadian energy firms—like Adam Waterous—are calling for the repeal of core environmental policies:
carbon levies, emissions caps, and Bill C-69 (the “No More Pipelines Bill”). And what happens when Carney refuses?
They threaten to walk, saying only state-owned enterprises will be left to build anything.
Welcome to Petro-Canada 2.0, where your taxes fund the pipelines industry won’t.
“It would be reasonable to assume that under a Mark Carney government that we are going to have a Trans Mountain 2.0.”
— Adam Waterous, CEO, Strathcona Resources Ltd.
If that’s the future, then Canada’s green transition is being built on a political ransom note signed by oil execs.
So, What’s the Verdict?
Mark Carney is not a climate villain.
He’s intelligent, strategic, and understands the levers of finance like few others in the world.
His technocratic solutions could work—on paper.
But in the gritty, polarized, high-stakes world of Canadian energy politics, his message is blurred, his platform is patchy, and his backbone is bending.
He’s trying to be the Goldilocks candidate of climate: not too hot, not too cold, not too aggressive, not too soft.
But in a world on fire, maybe lukewarm leadership just won’t cut it.
Final Thoughts: The Real Risk? Delay Disguised as Progress
What we are watching in real time is the professionalization of delay.
A perfect cocktail of corporate appeasement, polished PR, and plausible deniability. Carney says the right things—sometimes.
But he also gives fossil fuel producers enough wiggle room to keep pumping while looking clean.
If Canada wants to lead in clean energy, it needs bold, uncomfortable, uncompromising action.
Not technocratic triangulation.
Because at this rate, we’re not heading to net zero.
We’re heading to net nothing.
Sincerely,
Adaptation-Guide
ADAPT OR DIE!
LESS IS MORE!
WE ARE READY! ARE YOU?
CREDITS: GLOBE & MAIL
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