Simon Donner

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

youtube.com/watch?v=wWKS...

What the China-Canada EV Trade Deal Really Means Rob talks with McMaster University engineering professor Greig Mordue, then checks in with Heatmap contributor Andrew Moseman on the EVs to watch out for.

If you're interested in the implications of the Canada-China deal that cuts tariffs on some Chinese EVs, I recommend this episode of Shift Key heatmap.news/podcast/shif...

Record investment in clean energy last year. Electrified transport, renewable electricity generation and electricity grids accounted for 90% of investment, with transport up 20% despite all the talk in North America of things slowing down.

From: about.bnef.com/insights/fin...

International Day of Clean Energy | United Nations International Day of Clean Energy is a platform to drive the adoption of policies and practices to promote awareness on the sustainable use of energy resources and to strengthen collaboration and coop...

Happy International Day of Clean Energy to all who are observant. www.un.org/en/observanc...

India Is Electrifying Faster Than China Using Cheap Green Tech Developing countries are taking advantage of falling prices for solar, wind and batteries.

Yet more reason to trust projections that global oil demand will soon level off and decline
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Photograph depicting wave impact on the lagoon-facing shoreline in Bikenibeu, Tarawa, on February 24, 2005. Photo: Julia Mayer Not all waves are created equal. Analysis of #Kiribati’s Tarawa lagoon shorelines show future flooding risk will not be uniform across the atoll based on wave direction line up. https://oceans.ubc.ca/2026/01/21/not-all-waves-are-created-equal/ @simondonner #JuliaMayer @UBCGeog @ubcires

Not all waves are created equal. Analysis of #Kiribati’s Tarawa lagoon shorelines show future flooding risk will not be uniform across the atoll based on wave direction line up. oceans.ubc.ca/2026/01/21/n... @simondonner.bsky.social #JuliaMayer @ubcgeography.bsky.social @ires.ubc.ca

My calculation is based on sales from 3rd quarter of 2025, which is after the big decline (from letting the rebates expire). So, yes, sales would still be below previous levels of nothing else changes.

It's a pretty small dent in sales, not a EV strategy on its own... my math involved some very generous assumptions (Chinese EVs replace gas vehicle sales, the 49,000 is per year, etc).

How would the new deal to cut tariffs on up to 49,000 Chinese EVs affect uptake? By my math, in the maximum case, battery EVs would move from 5.5% of sales to 8.1% of sales. This is potentially a *small* start of a much-needed overhaul of EV strategy in Canada. What comes next matters the most.

Sure, but breaking records every year creates a trend...

I say "steady" because there is less year-to-year natural variability in total ocean heat content than in air temperatures. The figure is from a new paper in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Because the ocean absorbs >90% of the heat trapped in the climate system due to human enhancement of the greenhouse effect, the best and most steady measure of global warming is the change in ocean heat content.

It continues to break records every year:

This is from the HadCRUT5 (UK dataset). Other datasets have similar orders. Before 1850, global average temperature is estimated via proxies, rather than direct measurements, and annual values have greater uncertainty.

Warmest years, in order, since records began in 1800s. Seeing a pattern here...
2024
2023
2025
2016
2020
2019
2017
2015
2022
2021
2018
2010
2014
2013
2005
2009
2007
1998
2012
2006
2002
2003
2011
2001

I recommend reading the article. The issue isn't that the world won't need oil, but that the market for Canadian heavy oil is predicted to decline sharply.

Opinion: Alberta’s oil economy has 10 years before electric takes over. It’s time to invest in the future. Alberta’s oil economy has 10 years before electric takes over. It’s time to invest in the future.

This article speaks some honest and blunt about the future of heavy oil in an electrifying world. Canadians are not being told this nearly enough. calgaryherald.com/opinion/colu...

Opinion: A 'Build Canada' plan for the 21st (not 20th) century Opinion: As a clean energy powerhouse thanks to renewable energy and critical minerals, we could create hundreds of thousands of jobs

"The future economy is electric" - incisive article on why Canada needs to quickly pivot its focus from industries of the past to the industries of tomorrow vancouversun.com/opinion/op-e...

Been wondering about this since Trump returned to office. Too many years of seeing bad map projections or the board game Risk, in which Greenland is needed to defend the Americas.

A moment of calm

The US Academic Alliance for the IPCC (USAA-IPCC) was formed in March 2025 in part to prepare for this possibility and to ensure that US scientists remain able to engage in IPCC work regardless of the status and role of the US government. With the support of the USAA-IPCC, more than 70 US citizens and US-based experts who are currently serving the IPCC as coordinating lead authors, lead authors, review editors and committee members will continue to play these roles. “US climate scientists have made incredible contributions to understanding our planet’s life support systems and the impacts and risks of climate change. Their role as key players in IPCC reports have helped the US maintain our preeminent position in science and technology, and this global scientific cooperation will continue despite this unfortunate decision,” said Dr. Pamela McElwee, Professor of Human Ecology at Rutgers University, who serves as chair of the steering committee of the Alliance. “There is a reason we call our community the global scientific enterprise. We cannot grow, innovate, or advance unless we are linked together sharing, analyzing, and deliberating on vital climate data through critical international organizations like the IPCC. In the wake of this devastating move, AGU pledges to do all it can to bridge global partnership, research, and dialogue,” said Dr. Brandon Jones, President of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), which hosts the Alliance. The Trump Administration began disengaging from IPCC prior to yesterday’s formal announcement. Since February of 2025, the US State Department has not nominated experts for involvement in IPCC work, nor supported travel to IPCC meetings for selected authors, a role they have played in all prior administrations. The US government also did not participate in either of the IPCC business sessions in 2025, the first time the US has not been in attendance since the IPCC’s founding in 1988.

As a result, the USAA-IPCC has assumed a key leadership role in nominating US scientists for consideration as authors for IPCC reports, including for the Seventh Assessment Report (nominating 282 authors in April 2025) and the Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (nominating 33 authors in December 2025), as well as for roles on the IPCC Task Group on Data Support and for participation in several expert workshops. AGU and the USAA-IPCC have also raised funds to support travel for US scientists and technical experts selected by IPCC to attend author meetings and workshops. Since the founding of the IPCC over four decades ago, US scientists and other experts have made critical contributions, leading formal processes as Working Group co-chairs as well as filling vitally important author and reviewer roles. IPCC findings have shaped science-based policy at all levels—from global climate agreements to local resilience plans—and strengthen the ability of policy communities to make informed decisions. Ensuring US scientists remain fully engaged in the IPCC and the global climate science community will lead to important new research opportunities and international collaborations that benefit the US in substantial ways. The USAA-IPCC looks forward to continuing our support of US climate experts, climate science research, and the IPCC. —-- The USAA-IPCC (https://www.usaa-ipcc.org/) is composed of all the US academic institutions that have observer status with the IPCC – Colby College, College of the Atlantic, Dickinson College, Emory University, Indiana University, Princeton University, Rutgers University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of California San Diego, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Yale University – together with the American Geophysical Union (AGU), which hosts the Alliance.

The Trump Administration's announced withdraw from the IPCC is disappointing, but not surprising. US scientists will continue to play key roles in the @ipcc.bsky.social. A statement from the US Academic Alliance for the IPCC:

If the US "withdraws" from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as stated in the new executive order, what happens to appointed US authors working on the next set of reports? Anyone know?

Withdrawing the United States from International Organizations, Conventions, and Treaties that Are Contrary to the Interests of the United States MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United

A truly gonzo Executive Order from the Trump Administration removes US from not just the UN Framework Convention on Climate change, but also the IPCC (!), the IUCN, the IPBES (the IPCC of biodiversity), and all sorts of other organizations. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Seven whole minutes, who has the time

"I couldn't look at myself in the mirror", says climate scientist @simondonner.bsky.social, who is one of the two climate advisors that quit the federal government's Net-Zero Advisory Body.

Full interview: youtu.be/x1JYcA9srH4?...

Thanks Janet, I appreciate your comments.

As It Happens with Nil Köksal, Chris Howden | Live Radio | CBC Listen News that’s not afraid of fun. Meet people at the centre of the day’s most hard-hitting, hilarious and heartbreaking stories — powerful leaders, proud eccentrics and ordinary people in extraordinary c...

I spoke about the decision to resign from chairing the Net-Zero Advisory Body with As it Happens (9:20 mark of the show). This is the best description of what transpired, including how the Alberta-Canada MOU was cynical, and why I felt I had no choice but to resign.
www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Thanks Jackie. It was, at times, but the system was poorly designed and times have changed.

Thank Glen, nice of you to say.

Thanks Joe, that's very kind of you to say. It's been a hard process, and I hoped it wouldn't come to this. But I feel I was left with no other choice.

Thanks Kathy, the respect means a lot coming from you.