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The end is near.
On Friday morning, Joe Biden pulled ahead of Donald Trump in Georgia and Pennsylvania, moving him one step closer to the presidency as Americans waited on edge for final election results. Biden is now leading in three of the five battleground states that have yet to be called.
While Americans – and many Canadians – were hitting refresh on election maps earlier this week, another important event took place: on Nov. 4, the U.S. formally left the Paris Agreement, walking away from global climate efforts and jeopardizing the future stability of the deal. If the election is called for Biden, he has promised to re-enter the agreement, but what happens next – from securing funding for climate initiatives to setting and meeting domestic emissions targets – will likely be more complicated.
This matters north of the border because, like it or not, the future of America’s environmental policy will influence Canada’s efforts to address the climate crisis. A Biden presidency is expected to help the U.S. make a shift toward clean energy and may also have a significant impact on Canada’s oil and gas sector.
More aligned climate policies could ensure that businesses on both sides of the border can remain competitive, too. Over the past four years, as Canada and the U.S. have drifted apart on climate action, differing regulations have set the stage for trade tensions. Case in point: a group of more than 60 major American industry associations is currently trying to halt Canada’s efforts to reduce plastic pollution, citing novel provisions in CUSMA in an effort to delay proposed legislation.
For now, all that’s left to do is wait. Trump is unlikely to walk away quietly – since polls closed on Tuesday, he has made baseless claims of voter fraud and filed lawsuits in several states over the results – but we are inching ever closer to learning who will occupy the White House in January.
And now, for today’s top stories:
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