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Matthew Paterson
Matthew Paterson is Professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa.
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Author's Posts
Trans Mountain Clarifies Canada’s Climate–Energy Choices
- Analysis
- October 3, 2018
Since the court decision of August 30th that put the Trans Mountain pipeline on hold —and the cat decidedly among the pigeons — Canada’s energy/climate politics has been strangely quiet. Trans Mountain was the last of a batch of …
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Ford and the Future of Canadian Climate Policy
- Analysis
- September 6, 2018
In the fallout from Doug Ford’s election as Premier of Ontario, two things have dominated public debate regarding climate policy. One, the provincial cap and trade plan along with the court case to stop the federal government from imposing a …
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Trump vs. the Climate, Round 1
- Analysis
- April 6, 2017
Trump’s executive order, “Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth,” is the latest and perhaps most wide-ranging assault on climate change policy under the Obama administration in the US. Much has already been said about it, with excellent commentaries …
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Serious Climate Action Requires Emission Reduction Targets
- Analysis
- October 13, 2015
Justin Trudeau has announced that the Liberals “won’t set a specific emissions target” for greenhouse gas emissions to address climate change. His reasoning is that, “what we need is not ambitious political targets. What we need is an ambitious plan …
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Whose Views? Climate Change Governance and the Politics of Expertise
- Analysis
- September 22, 2015
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has long been regarded as the most authoritative guide to the status of knowledge about climate change. Read any report by a government, international organization, business group or NGO and they almost …
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The UNFCCC and Beyond: Transnational Climate Change Governance
- Analysis
- December 6, 2014
The world’s attention (or at least that bit of it thinking about climate change at all) is focused again on the annual UN negotiations that convene for two weeks every December. This year in Lima, increasing attention is being given …
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With U.S.-China Climate Deal, Canada’s Isolation Deepens
- Analysis
- November 19, 2014
Tuesday’s U.S.-China climate deal has been hailed widely as an “historic deal” that dramatically changes the dynamics of international climate politics as countries search for a new global agreement by the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Climate …
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New Thinking on Global Climate Governance
- Analysis
- January 23, 2014
While international negotiations on climate change continue to stall, innovative action to address it goes on in a wide range of places and involving a dizzying array of actors. Most people have tended to place their hopes on a single …
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Thinking Again About the Crisis of EU Climate Policy
- Analysis
- April 29, 2013
The demise of carbon markets has been predicted a number of times. The latest episode to provoke this claim was the failure of the European Parliament to strengthen the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) in a recent vote on …
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Exploring Global Governance Networks
- Analysis
- March 7, 2012
How is global governance organized? For many complicated issues, governance is being pursued at multiple sites, by different actors, at different levels and, in many cases, across space in a messy transnational fashion. What, then, are fruitful ways of understanding …
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If Only We Could Take the Politics Out….
- Analysis
- January 23, 2012
‘If only we could take the politics out’ has become a ubiquitous cry in contemporary political life. This can be seen everywhere, but Barack Obama’s decision on the Keystone XL pipeline is a classic instance. It has been decried from …
READ MOREGoing Rogue: Canada and the Kyoto Protocol
- Analysis
- December 6, 2011
So the Canadian government is apparently planning, according to numerous media reports, to formally withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. The Environment Minister, Peter Kent, refuses to confirm or deny the reports.
The surprise should perhaps precisely be that this …
READ MOREThe World Energy Outlook and North Pole Crocodiles
- Analysis
- November 21, 2011
So the International Energy Agency (IEA) produced its annual World Energy Outlook this year. The central message seems to be: PANIC! IT MAY BE TOO LATE.
When a sober organisation full of technocrats and policy wonks screams panic, you know …
READ MOREArctic Ice, Oil Sands Protests, and Canadian Climate Change Policy
- Analysis
- October 10, 2011
Last month saw two events of interest on the climate change front.
One is the protest on September 26 in Ottawa by activists opposing the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to be built from Alberta to Louisiana in order to take …
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