1) Want to plant trees to offset fossil fuels? You’d need all of North and Central America, study finds

Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press

By Melina Walling, June 19, 2025

A car drives between trees in a small park in Frankfurt, Germany, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)

Planting trees has plenty of benefits, but this popular carbon-removal method alone can’t possibly counteract the planet-warming emissions caused by the world’s largest fossil-fuel companies. To do that, trees would have to cover the entire land mass of North and Central America, according to a study out Thursday.

Many respected climate scientists and institutions say removing carbon emissions — not just reducing them — is essential to tackling climate change. And trees remove carbon simply by “breathing.” But crunching the numbers, researchers found that the trees’ collective ability to remove carbon through photosynthesis can’t stand up to the potential emissions from the fossil fuel reserves of the 200 largest oil, gas and coal fuel companies — there’s not enough available land on Earth to feasibly accomplish that.

And even if there were, if those 200 companies had to pay for planting all those trees, it would cost $10.8 trillion, more than their entire combined market valuation of $7.01 trillion. The researchers also determined that the companies would be in the red if they were responsible for the social costs of the carbon in their reserves, which scientists compute around $185 per metric ton of carbon dioxide.

“The general public maybe understand offsetting to be a sort of magic eraser, and that’s just not where we’re at,” said Nina Friggens, a research fellow at the University of Exeter who co-authored the paper published in Communications Earth & Environment, a Nature Portfolio journal.

Carbon offsetting essentially means investing in tree planting or other environmental projects to attempt to compensate for carbon emissions. Trees are one of the cheapest ways to do this because they naturally suck up planet-warming carbon. Fossil fuel corporations, along with other companies and institutions, have promoted tree-planting as key part of carbon offset programs in recent years.

For example, TotalEnergies, a global energy company, said in a statement that it is “investing heavily in carbon capture and storage (CCS) and nature-based solutions (NBS) projects.”

To do their calculations, the researchers looked at the 200 largest holders of fossil fuel reserves — the fuel that companies promise shareholders they can extract in the future — and calculated how much carbon dioxide would be released if this fuel is burned. The researchers also focused solely on tree planting because the expense and technological development needed for other forms of carbon capture are still mostly cost-prohibitive.

Forestry expert Éliane Ubalijoro, who was not involved with the research, called the study “elegant.”

It “gives people a sense of proportion around carbon,” said Ubalijoro, CEO of CIFOR-ICRAF, an international forestry research center.

But she cautioned against oversimplifying the equation by looking only at carbon capture, noting that tree planting done right can foster food security and biodiversity and protect communities from natural disasters.

The paper effectively makes the point that it’s financially impossible to offset enough carbon to compensate for future fossil fuel burning, said Daphne Yin, director of land policy at Carbon180, where her team advocates for U.S. policy support for land-based carbon removal. And the idea that companies would ever be required to account for the downstream emissions from the fossil fuel they extract is a “fantasy,” she said.

The idea of planting trees is appealing to the public and to politicians because it’s tangible — people can literally see the carbon being incorporated into branches and leaves as a tree grows, Friggens said. But she says other methods shouldn’t be overlooked — microbes underground store carbon too, but they can’t be seen.

And it’s a physically and mathematically inescapable fact, illustrated in part by this study, that there’s no getting around it — we have to stop emitting carbon, said Jonathan Foley, the executive director of Project Drawdown, who also was not part of the study. Carbon emissions are like an overflowing bathtub, he says: Before you start cleaning up, you have to turn off the water.

“Trees are the sponges and the mops we use to clean up the mess,” he said. “But if the taps are still running and the water’s pouring out over the edges of your bathtub, destroying your bathroom and your home, maybe you’ve got to learn to turn off the taps too.”

2) Canada’s EV market was already in trouble. Tariffs made it worse, Ontario workers say

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Sharif Hassan, June 19, 2025

Bob Pulham recalls the optimism in the air when General Motors began producing electric vans in Ingersoll, Ont., in late 2022.  

As the first BrightDrop commercial van rolled off the line at the CAMI Assembly plant, GM executives, union leaders and former prime minister Justin Trudeau touted it as a major milestone for electric vehicle production in Canada. 

Pulham, a Unifor representative at the plant, remembers talk of increasing shifts and hiring more people to produce 50,000 such delivery vans annually by 2025. 

But the sales never picked up, the plant kept slowing down the production line amid sluggish demand and the optimism slowly faded.

This April, GM announced it would idle the plant for several months and resume production in October with just one shift. Union members say about half of 1,200 workers at the plant will be gone as a result.

“I feel bad for all 600 that are being laid off. It’s a horrible position to be put in,” Pulham said in an interview. “It’s a crazy amount of uncertainty and I think that hurts people.”

The announcement came shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian-made vehicles, but a GM Canada spokesperson said the halt was directly related to lower-than-expected demand for the BrightDrop vans.

Pulham, who began working at the CAMI plant more than three decades ago, said his wife has also been laid off and is now pondering whether to go back to school or search for a new job. 

Several other companies, including Honda, Stellantis, Umicore and Ford have also delayed or scrapped their EV projects amid the slow sales growth and the ongoing trade war.

GM Canada said reducing production in Ingersoll was necessary to adjust to market demand and balance inventory. 

But workers at the CAMI plant say Trump’s tariffs made things even worse. They’ve experienced the industry’s ups and downs over the decades, but say this challenge is especially difficult at a time of great economic uncertainty.

“There’s a push to build (vehicles) in the U.S., and that has caused a lot of issues over here,” Pulham said. “So, it’s not a good situation.”

Mike Van Boekel, the Unifor Local 88 CAMI plant chairperson, said even though workers knew layoffs were on the horizon, the news was still shocking for many. 

“It was terrible,” he said. “I thought we were going to lose a shift. I was worried in the back of my mind … and now it has come true.”

GM’s ambitious plan to be at the “forefront of a big wave” of electric delivery van production didn’t materialize because the timing was not right, Boekel said. 

He felt the company was gaining some momentum before the imposition of 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian-made vehicles. GM had just received an order of a thousand delivery vans from the U.S. grocery chain giant Kroger, he said.

“So, it looked like we were just getting to go and all of a sudden, the tariffs came on,” he said, adding that CAMI workers will still produce Kroger’s vans when they return to the factory this fall.

Workers aren’t the only ones feeling the pain. 

The ripple effects of layoffs are a source of concern for Ingersoll Mayor Brian Petrie. The CAMI plant, which spans two million square feet, is the largest employer in the southwestern Ontario town of about 14,000 people. 

Petrie said Ingersoll expects to receive $1.8 million in municipal taxes from the company this year, which is around 10 per cent of the total levies the town is expected to collect. 

“It is devastating because we’re not talking about new employees here, either, these are long serving employees and … they’ve had a tough road going up to that point,” Petrie said in a recent interview at his office.

The federal government under Trudeau set a target of 100 per cent zero-emission sales of light duty vehicles by 2035. Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin indicated this week that mandate won’t be changing.

But that goal seems hard to achieve, Petrie said.

“It’s honest to say that I think everybody may have misunderstood the scale of the problem that we’re facing to do the EV switch,” he said. “I think all of them will admit that it’s been a bigger problem than they once thought.”

Still, he thinks the more than $50 billion in investments that Canada has pledged since 2020 to incentivize the EV supply chain will pay off in the long term. 

Some provinces, including Manitoba and Quebec, are offering rebates for electric vehicle purchases. B.C.’s rebate program, which was the longest running in the country, was paused last month. Ontario scrapped its rebate program after Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives won the election in 2018. 

The federal government also halted in January its Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles program, which offered up to $5,000 off the cost of a new electric vehicle. Dabrusin said Ottawa intends to bring back consumer rebates for EVs, but doesn’t yet know what they’ll look like.

Zero-emissions vehicles represented only 8.7 per cent of all new vehicle sales in Canada in the first quarter of 2025 — a drop from  16.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to data from Statistics Canada.

The sales of EVs and plug-in hybrids had steadily increased from below one per cent in 2017 to 14.6 in 2024, but experts say the growth hasn’t been nearly as fast as many expected.

Dan Park, CEO of online used car retailer Clutch, said EV adoption has been slower in Canada because people normally drive long distances in colder temperatures, which reduces battery life by 20 to 40 per cent and slows down the charging speed. 

“Canada is just a fundamentally harder market to have,” he said. “Until technology and battery life is improved to be able to handle colder conditions, I think Canadians will just shy away from it.”

Park said EVs make up only five per cent of Clutch’s inventory, which is tied to consumer demand. 

He said consumer rebates and production subsidies “artificially propped up the market,” and provincial and federal governments should instead invest in a stronger charging infrastructure to encourage more Canadians to adopt EVs. 

A recent survey by consumer insights firm J.D. Power shows that only 28 per cent of nearly 4,000 respondents said they were “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to consider an EV for their next vehicle purchase, down from 29 per cent last year and 34 per cent in 2023. The survey also found that 75 per cent of new vehicle purchasers aren’t confident Canada can reach its 2035 zero-emission vehicle sales goal.

Manufacturers took note of the lacklustre interest.  

Honda Canada announced in May that it’s postponing a $15-billion EV project in Ontario, citing the “unexpected slowdown” in the market. Stellantis is postponing the production of an EV model of 2026 Dodge Charger Daytona R/T at its Windsor, Ont., plant as it assesses the effects of U.S. tariffs. And Ford Motor Co. said it will assemble F-Series Super Duty pickup trucks at its Oakville, Ont., plant beginning in 2026 instead of planned electric vehicle production at the site.

Despite the setbacks, Environment and Climate Change Canada said it will continue to support investments and innovations in the EV supply chain.

Canada’s zero-emissions vehicle sales mandates ensure “Canadians have access to electric vehicles, which offer long-term savings for consumers,” department spokesperson Hermine Landry said in a statement. 

“Transportation emissions have declined to levels not seen in decades, demonstrating that we can grow our economy while also fighting climate change,” Landry said. “It is important to remain focused on the fact that the real threat to the Canadian auto industry right now are the unjustified tariffs from the United States.”

Overall, Canadians buy around two million new vehicles annually and the country produces approximately 1.5 million of them, according to Unifor. Autoworkers say the federal government should push for more vehicle production in Canada from manufacturers such as Kia, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and others that don’t have any production footprint in the country, to offset the impact of U.S. tariffs.

“It’d be nice, (if) the government stands up for us and you know says to these big companies, ‘If you want to sell here, then you need to build here as well,'” said Paul Harvey, who works as a framing team leader at CAMI. 

Harvey said that although he and his wife will keep their jobs at the CAMI plant in Ingersoll, they will both have to work the same hours when production resumes on one shift. With four children at home, that means the couple will need a new child-care plan and increased costs will come with it. 

Harvey, who has been an autoworker for 20 years, said it would be “kind of silly” to think that the transition to electric vehicles would happen at the flick of a switch. He said he and his wife remain optimistic about the EV market and that’s why they purchased a Chevy Blazer EV just a few weeks ago. 

“We’re committed to moving into the future with the electrified vehicles,” he said. 

“I do believe it will get there eventually.”

3) New EV rebate program in the works, environment minister says

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Nick Murray, June 17, 2025.

Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin says the federal government will bring back a popular consumer rebate program to help make electric vehicles more affordable.

The federal government launched its rebate program — the Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles program or iZEV, — in 2019, but it ran out of funding earlier this year, leading Ottawa to pause the program.

Speaking to The Canadian Press while leaving the House of Commons — where she spent the better part of question period fending off Conversative criticisms of Ottawa’s EV mandate — Dabrusin said a renewed consumer rebate is something being worked on.

 “Will it be named, iZEV? That I can’t tell you. But there will be a consumer rebate,” Dabrusin said.

She also indicated Canada’s electric vehicle mandate — which requires all light-duty passenger vehicles sold off the lot to be zero-emissions by 2035 — won’t be changing.

Conservatives spent Tuesday in Ottawa calling for the mandate to be scrapped, citing concerns about an auto sector threatened by U.S. tariffs, and debating an opposition motion to compel the government to “immediately end their ban on gas-powered vehicles.”

“It’s been in place since 2023. I don’t see why the Conservatives believe we need to change it in the face of what we’re facing with the U.S. tariffs on the auto industry,” Dabrusin said.

Canada’s auto manufacturers have grown on their calls for the government to repeal the mandate, as EV sales dropped in early 2025 as the rebates ended.

The first quarter of 2025 saw zero-emissions vehicles represent only 8.11 per cent of all new vehicle sales in Canada — a drop from the 16.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to data from Statistics Canada.

On a monthly basis through 2024, the share of EVs among new vehicle sales never dropped below 10.65 per cent, and peaked at 18.29 per cent in December.

In April of 2025, the most recent data from StatCan, EV sales dropped to 7.53 per cent of all new vehicles off of Canadian lots.

Beginning in 2026, the government’s EV mandate requires at least 20 per cent of new light-duty vehicles offered for sale in that year be zero-emission. That share rises each year until it reaches 100 per cent in 2035.

4) U.S. National Weather Service issues Alaska’s first ever heat advisory

Courtesy Barrie360.com

By Mark Thiessen, June 14, 2025

For the first time ever, parts of Alaska will be under a heat advisory — but you can put an asterisk at the end of that term.

It’s not the first instance of unusually high temperatures in what many consider the nation’s coldest state, but the National Weather Service only recently allowed for heat advisories to be issued there. Information on similarly warm weather conditions previously came in the form of “special weather statements.”

Using the heat advisory label could help people better understand the weather’s severity and potential danger, something a nondescript “special weather statement” didn’t convey.

The first advisory is for Sunday in Fairbanks, where temperatures are expected to top 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 degrees Celsius). Fairbanks has been warmer in the past, but this is unusual for June, officials said.

Here’s what to know about Alaska’s inaugural heat advisory:

Why it’s the first

The National Weather Service’s switch from special weather statements to advisories was meant to change how the public views the information.

“This is an important statement, and the public needs to know that there will be increasing temperatures, and they could be dangerous because Alaska is not used to high temperatures like these,” said Alekya Srinivasan, a Fairbanks-based meteorologist.

“We want to make sure that we have the correct wording and the correct communication when we’re telling people that it will be really hot this weekend,” she said.

Not unprecedented and not climate change

The change doesn’t reflect unprecedented temperatures, with Fairbanks having reached 90 degrees twice in 2024, Srinivasan said. It’s purely an administrative change by the weather service.

“It’s not that the heat in the interior that prompted Fairbanks to issue this is record heat or anything like that. It’s just now there’s a product to issue,” said Rich Thoman, a climate specialist at the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy.

Thoman also clarified that the term swap doesn’t have anything to do with climate change.

“I think some of it is related to the recognition that hot weather does have an impact on Alaska, and in the interior especially,” Thoman said.

Little air conditioning

While the temperatures in the forecast wouldn’t be considered extreme in other U.S. states, Thoman noted that most Alaska buildings don’t have air conditioning.

“And just the opposite, most buildings in Alaska are designed to retain heat for most of the year,” he said.

People can open their windows to allow cooler air in during early morning hours — if wildfires aren’t burning in blaze-prone state. But if it’s smoky and the windows have to remain shut, buildings can heat up very rapidly.

“Last year was the third year in a row in Fairbanks with more than a hundred hours of visibility-reducing smoke, the first time we’ve ever had three consecutive years over a hundred hours,” he said.

There’s only been two summers in Fairbanks in the 21st century with no hours of smoke that reduced visibility, a situation he said was commonplace from the 1950s to the 1970s.

What about Anchorage?

The Juneau and Fairbanks weather service offices have been allowed to issue heat advisories beginning this summer, but not the office in the state’s largest city of Anchorage — at least not yet. And, regardless, temperatures in the area haven’t reached the threshold this year at which a heat advisory would be issued.

Brian Brettschneider, a climate scientist with the weather service, said by email that the Anchorage office is working on a plan to issue such advisories in the future.

5) One in four Canadians report being affected by extreme weather in last year: poll

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Nick Murray, June 19, 2025.

Almost one in four Canadians were directly affected by extreme weather events over the past year, a new poll suggests.

The Leger poll — released as Canada copes with its second-worst wildfire season on record — says 23 per cent of Canadians who responded said they were personally affected by extreme weather events like heat waves, floods, fires and tornadoes over the last 12 months.

Among those who said they had felt the impacts of extreme weather, almost two-thirds reported being forced to stay indoors because of air quality concerns, while 39 per cent reported suffering emotional stress.

Twenty-seven per cent of those who reported experiencing extreme weather said they had to postpone travel plans, while one-fifth said they suffered property damage.

Leger’s latest poll — which was conducted online and can’t be assigned a margin of error — surveyed 1,529 Canadians between June 13 and June 15.

More than 2,000 fires have already been documented in Canada this year, burning almost 40,000 square kilometres of land. About three-quarters of the total area burned is in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

The percentage of Canadians saying they were affected by extreme weather has dropped from the 35 per cent Leger reported when it asked the same question in August 2024 — a year after Canada’s worst wildfire season.

That poll would have captured the months that saw wildfires burning in almost every province, and thick smoke blanketing cities and towns all across Canada for days and, even weeks, at a time.

The difference in timing between the two polls may have influenced some of the results, which also suggested Canadians perceived fewer episodes of extreme heat, flooding and heavy rainfall.

“What it tells me is that what’s currently being experienced by Canadians really drives how they feel about what’s happening more frequently and less frequently in terms of extreme weather,” said Andrew Enns, executive vice president at Leger.

“So it just kind of reminds us that the here and now really has an impact on how people perceive the frequency of extreme weather, and maybe associating that to climate change.”

Modelling by Environment and Climate Change Canada suggests temperatures will be about a degree or two above normal across the country through August.

Leger’s poll suggests nearly two-thirds of Canadians — and 74 per cent of respondents in B.C. — are concerned about hot summers and heat waves. Natural Resources Canada is forecasting an extreme fire risk in the southern part of British Columbia in July.

The number of Canadians concerned about a hot summer has dropped since the August 2024 survey, which reported 70 per cent of respondents were worried about summer heat.

Enns said his firm conducted its latest poll before the start of summer to get a baseline to study how recent events affect Canadians’ perception of climate.

“And then we can have this conversation and really say, ‘OK, yeah, there is a timing impact’ and take that into account when we look at these things,” Enns said, adding the firm is planning another survey at the end of the summer.

The percentage of Canadians who said climate change worries them dropped to 59 per cent from the 63 per cent reported in the August 2024 survey, while exactly half of Canadians polled said there is still time to reverse the consequences of climate change — an increase of two percentage points since August 2024.

The polling industry’s professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.