{"id":23986,"date":"2026-01-15T14:53:41","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/?post_type=rbc_tl&p=23986\/cultivating-the-next-generation-of-ag-innovators"},"modified":"2026-01-19T17:33:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T17:33:36","slug":"how-to-avoid-triggering-a-capital-flight","status":"publish","type":"rbc_tl","link":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/climate-action-institute\/climate-crunch\/how-to-avoid-triggering-a-capital-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate Crunch: How to avoid triggering a capital flight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u2794 How\u2019s Canada doing on fighting climate change? It\u2019s complicated<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2794 Is the world falling out of love with Teslas?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2794 Canada\u2019s methane rules get pragmatic<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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Hot takes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2794 Can the IPCC survive its breakup with Washington? <\/strong>The UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change<\/a> is in a \u201ckeep calm-and carry-on\u201d mode after the U.S. decided to pull out, noting that it continues to work on its next cycle of reports, starting in 2027<\/a>. The IPCC reports are extremely influential, and many countries benchmark themselves to its authoritative data. It\u2019s critical for IPCC to persist, but one of the criticisms of the body is its focus on the science and the tech, that underplays the economics and politics of energy transition. While the White House labelled the IPCC (and the 65 other UN organizations the U.S. exited) as a \u201cwaste\u201d of American taxpayer<\/a> money, others argue that the IPCC has been instrumental in focusing global policymakers on one of the world\u2019s most critical challenges. Science, they hope, will prevail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2794 New methane rules mark a pragmatic evolution in Canadian climate policy.<\/strong> The new rules\u2014covering onshore oil and gas operations and large landfills with requirements beginning in 2028\u2014pair high ambition with greater regulatory flexibility. The most consequential change is optionality, says Vivan Sorab,<\/strong> our Clean Tech Lead. Government<\/a> estimates suggest that the new rules could deliver cumulative reductions of 304 Mt CO2e from 2028 to 2040. Operators can follow a regulator-prescribed inspection pathway, subject to regulatory verification and enforcement, or demonstrate compliance through their own processes, backed by monitoring and verification. The removal of the five-year expiry on federal-provincial equivalency agreements further strengthens the framework by improving long-term certainty for provinces and the industry. The rules are reinforced by a $16-million federal investment in methane monitoring and verification tech. Given ongoing uncertainty on methane emission volumes, the focus on measurement could prove to be crucial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2794 Is the world moving past Elon Musk\u2019s Tesla? <\/strong>It\u2019s hard to say whether the billionaire\u2019s politics put off many, but it could certainly be a factor. Globally, EV cars sales hit a record 21.7 million last year, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates, even as Tesla sales contracted 9% to 1.64 million. BNEF forecast 24.3 million EV car sales in 2026\u2014a slower pace of growth than previous years\u2014as falling government incentives are offset by falling battery prices, a bump in commercial vehicle sales and the slow ramp up of robotaxis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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What it takes to write a climate action report<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Behind the scenes, the Climate Action Institute team spent the past six months on what\u2019s emerging as a benchmark of Canadian climate action: our Climate Action report<\/a>, now in its third year.

While there\u2019s been some retreat on climate policies, there\u2019s plenty of action too, on climate. Our report title, Retreat, reset or renew?,<\/em> suggests it’s all of the above.

The report is based on calculations, aggregations and estimates using a variety of measures from across the economy and society. We selected those metrics to help paint a picture of where we\u2019re at, how far we\u2019ve come and some of the distance ahead. The report, and its measurement tools, are not designed to be a precise diagnostic of any one sector, policy or technology\u2014it\u2019s more like a mirror in which we can see Canada\u2019s successes and shortcomings.

The report was also informed by our team attending over 100 events, and visiting farms, facilities and offices, cross-country, where we listened, spoke and compared notes with peers, experts and skeptics. Over 2,000 Canadian consumers and 150 business executives participated in our two annual surveys. Peer groups dove into the methodologies and several external experts stress-tested our analysis. For our case studies, several companies agreed to heart-to-hearts on the challenges of putting their boardroom promises into action on their factory or office floor. The result is a snapshot of Canada\u2019s climate journey: some milestones achieved, a few dead-ends, and strapping up for the next curve round the bend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full report here<\/a>, but here\u2019s a peek at a handful of findings:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n