That Canada's Environment Minister would celebrate this initiative using Shell's "Carbon Neutral" framing is deeply troubling to me, for many reasons. /1 https://twitter.com/JonathanWNV/status/1326933636189483011

$0.02/litre is less than $9/tonne CO2. *IF* we still have credible (i.e., additional, lasting) offsets at that rate in Canada it speaks volumes to the failure of our government to adopt policies that move Canada, cost-effectively, toward our Paris Agreement target. /2

Worse, this reinforces the individual responsibility narrative -- "hey, just pay 2 cents more per litre and you can save the planet!" -- and in a way that undermines public support for much more costly *government* actions that are needed (still good investment!) /3

Last, oil companies are the ones that misled the public about climate change, continue to profit from a product that works *by causing climate change*, still seek to expand production, and lobby against public polices that are what's really need to get to net zero. /4

I'll applaud when the Minister's tweets how Canada will close the gap to our current Paris target, finalizes a clean fuel standard that delivers promised reductions *additional* to other policies, and introduces carbon budget legislation. Policies not public relations. /fin

Further to that last one, here's why I'm worried about the Clean Fuel Standard (apart from the fact that it's been underdevelopment for close to 4 years). https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/march-2020/the-clean-fuel-standards-impact-has-been-overstated/