Wednesday, May 5, 2010

BP: Beyond Petroleum

With approximately 1 million litres of oil spilling into the ecologically sensitive waters of the Gulf Coast, BP has a responsibility to re-think its traditional model in order to move Beyond Petroleum. Even the ultra-conservative Terence Corcoran believes that BP should be paying the full cost of the clean-up.
As Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in the EU, he will be meeting with EU leaders who will no doubt chastize him for Canada's inaction on climate change. Canada is sourly missing an opportunity to formulate a "Made in Canada" climate change plan that reflects our northern reality and vast landscape. This wat-and-see-what-the-Americans-will-do position is sure to hamper our competitiveness in the medium to long term. As the Globe and Mail reported, even China and the United States are aggressively moving to lower their emissions.
Governor Schwerzenegger recently took bold steps in not supporting offshore drilling as he does not want to put the environment at risk. This reflects the state of California's electorate who, as the fifth largest economy in the world, tend to be more forward-looking than their neighbours.
Isn't there a message for Canada in all of this?