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Globe editorial: Don't block investment in Canadian oil. Do push it to slash emissions. And use lots less of it in Canada – The Globe and Mail

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Picture this: It’s 2035 and Canada is well on its way to reaching its climate goals.

The country’s power system is almost entirely clean – hydro and nuclear, and wind and solar. Natural gas has dwindled. Domestic oil demand is also down a lot, as electric vehicles – a government-subsidized curiosity back in 2022 – are commonplace.

But this picture of 2035 might also surprise: Canada still produces a lot of oil and gas – and remains a top exporter of both fossil fuels.

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The policy and legal foundations for this potential future go back to the late 2010s. Of particular note was what happened in 2018: Ottawa imposed an economy-wide and escalating price on carbon; invested many billions in the export-capacity boosting Trans Mountain oil pipeline and expansion; and, with little public attention, started drawing up new climate rules for reviews of proposed industrial projects, dubbed the strategic assessment of climate change.

Some said it was contradictory for Canada to aim to slash greenhouse gas emissions at home, while continuing to sell volumes of gas and oil – the latter a source of national wealth that accounted for one-seventh of the country’s exports.

This spring, 2022, the many details of how to make these two big goals real started to take clearer shape.

Ottawa’s latest plan to reduce emissions landed in late March. It sketched out aggressive cuts in oil and gas emissions – but not production. The hope is to transform Canada’s relatively dirty oil sands into something relatively far better. In early April’s budget, there was $7.1-billion through 2030 to split the cost with industry to build up carbon capture.

On April 6 came another policy puzzle piece, and two examples of how more oil can – and can’t – work.

Seeing a global market that will in years ahead move away from fossil fuels, Ottawa is working on standards for “best-in-class” projects “to transform Canada into the cleanest global oil and gas producer.”

That’s why Ottawa approved the Bay du Nord offshore project in Newfoundland, which could start pumping oil in 2028, with peak production of 200,000 barrels a day. Per-barrel emissions would be low. At the same time, Ottawa told Suncor much more work was required on its plan to mine new ground, and 225,000 barrels of bitumen a day, in the oil sands in 2030, as old mines tap out.

Suncor’s initial submission included hefty climate-heating emissions of three megatonnes of carbon a year – about 12 times that of Bay du Nord. Ottawa told Suncor the plan would likely be rejected; Suncor asked for more time to come up with a smarter, lower-emission plan.

Ottawa’s response to Suncor and Bay du Nord – an openness to new oil projects, if they meet reasonable yet top-tier climate standards – is the right approach.

This is the bargain and the reality: Canada can only affect demand within its borders. That’s the basis of international climate deals from Kyoto onward. We need to hammer down domestic use of fossil fuels, but so long as global demand continues, Canada should have no qualms about capturing an ever greater share of it – while aiming to make this country’s oil the world’s least polluting.

In the International Energy Agency’s reckoning of net zero in 2050, the world will use a quarter of the oil it does today, and half the gas. The industry will shrink. Competition will intensify. For Canada, getting ready, and fast, is essential.

It’s time to get more ambitious. The oil sands in large part exist because of government support. Back in the 1960s, Suncor was the first miner of the vast expanses of bitumen on the banks of the Athabasca River. This was a lead-gold alchemy, turning tarry muck into synthetic oil to be refined into gasoline. Canada showed real tech savvy.

Let’s do it again. The oil sands industry promises net zero in 2050. Why not 2040?

This sort of politics isn’t easy to talk about today. Conservatives shout that Liberals are anti-oil, which isn’t quite true. But the Liberals mostly want to talk about climate – their brand – and not how important the oil industry is to our economy. The way forward, for a country built on natural resources, is in the difficult middle ground.

Picture this: It’s 2035, and Canada uses barely any fossil fuels at home and still exports a bunch of oil and gas. And the oil sands are five years – not 15 – away from net zero.

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Tense diplomatic relations may not impact trade, investment ties between India, Canada: Experts

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NEW DELHI: The tense diplomatic relations between India and Canada are unlikely to impact trade and investments between the two countries as economic ties are driven by commercial considerations, according to experts. Both India and Canada trade in complementary products and do not compete on similar products.
“Hence, the trade relationship will continue to grow and not be affected by day-to-day events,” Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) Co-Founder Ajay Srivastava said.
Certain political developments have led to a pause in negotiations for a free trade agreement between the two countries.
On September 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed to his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau India’s strong concerns about the continuing anti-India activities of extremist elements in Canada that were promoting secessionism, inciting violence against its diplomats and threatening the Indian community there.
India on Tuesday announced the expulsion of a Canadian diplomat hours after Canada asked an Indian official to leave that country, citing a “potential” Indian link to the killing of a Khalistani separatist leader in June.
Srivastava said these recent events are unlikely to affect the deep-rooted people-to-people connections, trade, and economic ties between the two nations.
Bilateral trade between India and Canada has grown significantly in recent years, reaching USD 8.16 billion in 2022-23.
India’s exports (USD 4.1 billion) to Canada include pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery, textiles, and machinery, while Canada’s exports to India (USD 4.06 billion) include pulses, timber, pulp and paper, and mining products.
On investments, he said that Canadian pension funds will continue investing in India on grounds of India’s large market and good return on money invested.
Canadian pension funds, by the end of 2022, had invested over USD 45 billion in India, making it the fourth-largest recipient of Canadian FDI in the world.
The top sectors for Canadian pension fund investment in India include infrastructure, renewable energy, technology, and financial services.
Mumbai-based exporter and Chairman of Technocraft Industries Sharad Kumar Saraf said the present frosty relations between India and Canada are certainly a cause for concern.
“However, the bilateral trade is entirely driven by commercial considerations. Political turmoil is of a temporary nature and should not be a reason to affect trade relations,” Saraf said.
He added that even with China, India has acrimonious relations but bilateral trade continues to remain healthy.
“In fact, bilateral trade is an effective tool to improve political relations. India must make special efforts to increase our bilateral trade with Canada,” Saraf said.
India and Canada have a strong education partnership. There are over 200 educational partnerships between Indian and Canadian institutions.
In addition, over 3,19,000 Indian students are enrolled in Canadian institutions, making them the largest international student cohort in Canada, according to GTRI.
According to the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE), Indian students contributed USD 4.9 billion to the Canadian economy in 2021.
Indian students are the largest international student group in Canada, accounting for 20 per cent of all international students in 2021.
Benefits of educational partnerships are mutual and hence the current situation may have no impact on the relationship, Srivastava said.

 

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Apple supplier Foxconn aims to double India jobs and investment

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Apple supplier Foxconn aims to double its workforce and investment in India by next year, a company executive said on Sunday.

Taiwan-based Foxconn, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronics, has rapidly expanded its presence in India by investing in manufacturing facilities in the south of the country as the company seeks to move away from China.

V Lee, Foxconn’s representative in India, in a LinkedIn post to mark Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 73rd birthday, said the company was “aiming for another doubling of employment, FDI (foreign direct investment), and business size in India” by this time next year.

He did not give more details.

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Foxconn already has an iPhone factory employing 40,000 people in the state of Tamil Nadu.

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Foxconn dangles incentives for workers as iPhone shortages plague holiday season

Foxconn dangles incentives for workers as iPhone shortages plague holiday season

In August, the state of Karnataka said the firm will invest US$600 million for two projects to make casing components for iPhones and chip-making equipment.

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The company’s Chairman Liu Young-way said in an earnings briefing last month that he sees a lot of potential in India, adding: “several billion dollars in investment is only a beginning”.

Taiwan election: Foxconn’s Terry Gou taps star-powered running mate

 

Last month, Foxconn’s billionaire founder Terry Gou said he would run for the Taiwanese presidency in next year’s election, as an independent candidate.

He said the ruling and independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was unable to offer a bright future for the island and left Foxconn’s board following his decision to run.

The firm operates the world’s largest iPhone plant, in the city of Zhengzhou in Henan province.

 

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Foxconn to double workforce, investment in India by ‘this time next year’

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Foxconn, Taiwan-based Apple supplier, has said that they are planning to double their investment and workforce in India within the next twelve months, according to V Lee’s LinkedIn post on the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 73rd birthday.

Taiwan-based Foxconn, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronics, has rapidly expanded its presence in India by investing in manufacturing facilities in the south of the country as the company seeks to move away from China.

Notably, Foxconn already has an iPhone factory in the state of Tamil Nadu, which employs 40,000 people.

V Lee, Foxconn‘s representative in India, in a LinkedIn post to mark Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 73rd birthday, said the company was “aiming for another doubling of employment, FDI (foreign direct investment), and business size in India” by this time next year.

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In August this year, Karnataka governments had said that Foxconn has planned to invest $600 million for two projects in the state to make casing components for iPhones and chip-making equipment.

Earlier this month, Young Liu, Chairman and CEO of Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) had said, ‘India will be an important country in terms of manufacturing in future’.

In the past, it took 30 years to build the entire supply chain ecosystem in China, he noted, adding that while it will take an “appropriate amount of time in India” and the process will be shorter given the experience. The environment too is not quite the same, he said pointing to the advent of new technologies like AI and generative AI.

Meanwhile, Apple Inc. has announced plans to make the India-built iPhone 15 available in the South Asian country and some other regions on the global sales debut day, according to a Bloomberg report.

While the vast majority of iPhone 15s will come from China, that would be the first time a latest generation, India-assembled device is available on the first day of sale, they said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private.

Apple introduced the iPhone 15, updated watches and AirPods at a gala event at its US headquarters. Sales of new products begin typically around 10 days after the unveiling.

 

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