Climate Solutions

Reporting Project

Canada's National Observer logo with text and a red maple leaf symbol.

Led by I-SEA | Executed by Canada's National Observer

The Climate Solutions Reporting Project is a public education initiative designed to spotlight the most effective and inspiring responses to the climate crisis. Through rigorous journalism, it tells stories of how governments, businesses, communities, and Indigenous leaders are advancing real solutions - from policy innovation and green technology to climate adaptation and nature-based approaches.

  • I-SEA (Institute for Sustainability, Education, and Action) is a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to advancing public understanding of urgent environmental and social challenges.

    Canada's National Observer (CNO) is a leading independent media outlet known for award-winning journalism on climate, energy, and accountability.

    More than twenty Canadian foundations and hundreds of CNO subscribers.

    Leading the initiative, I-SEA provides administrative and strategic oversight of the project, while engaging CNO to carry out the journalism. CNO has full editorial control of the reporting. Founder Margery Moore has described I-SEA's mission as: "to propel forward great work in the world -and in so doing minimize the worst impacts of climate change."

    All reporting produced as part of the project is free to the public and is not behind CNO's paywall.

  • The Climate Solutions Reporting Project brings trusted, solutions-driven journalism to a broad public audience. It informs policy, deepens public dialogue, and highlights both Canadian leadership and international innovation in the race to confront climate change. The project also amplifies community voices and underrepresented perspectives, equipping people with the information they need to take part in a just and sustainable transition.

Featured
A French podcast brings climate conversations to young listeners
A French podcast brings climate conversations to young listeners

Sasha Emery brings climate conversations to young francophones. This 22-year-old from Yukon and her Franco-Manitoban friend, Anne-Sophie Règnier, produce the Conversations Climatiques podcast.

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Super-cool' birds of prey make valuable contributions
Super-cool' birds of prey make valuable contributions

Ginger Boehme-Vertefeuille invites us to get close to raptors. This 19-year-old from Cowichan Valley, British Columbia, spends her summers educating visitors at Vancouver Island’s The Raptors. 

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Students educating students about climate change
Students educating students about climate change

Juliana Janot wants all post-secondary students to understand climate change. This 20-year-old University of British Columbia student co-founded ‘Climate Education for All’ to make sure every student is educated about the causes and impacts of the climate crisis and its solutions.

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YOUTH   CLIMATE  ACTION

YOUTH CLIMATE ACTION
BIG GREEN BUILD

BIG GREEN BUILD

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CNO lands major climate solutions reporting award
CNO lands major climate solutions reporting award

Canada’s National Observer is proud to announce business correspondent Darius Snieckus has won Canadian Journalism Foundation's annual Award for Climate Solutions Reporting.

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Can homes built in a factory fill Canada’s housing gap?
Can homes built in a factory fill Canada’s housing gap?

Factory-built homes are in the election spotlight as a fix for Canada’s housing crisis. It’s a faster, easier way to build, and less polluting than traditional construction methods. So why aren’t neighbourhoods packed with prefab homes?

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With vote looming, builders hope Vancouver sticks with gas restrictions
With vote looming, builders hope Vancouver sticks with gas restrictions

Some of Vancouver's leading builders are eyeing with frustration an upcoming city council vote that could eliminate the city's years-old restrictions on using natural gas in new buildings.

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CLIMATE SOLUTIONS

CLIMATE  SOLUTIONS

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Canadian philanthropists pledge record $405 M for climate solutions
Canadian philanthropists pledge record $405 M for climate solutions

Nine families and foundations have pledged $405 million for climate solutions over the next decade, marking the largest philanthropic contribution to fight climate change in Canadian history.

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Does the decision to lift Newfoundland’s cod moratorium adequately consider climate change?
Does the decision to lift Newfoundland’s cod moratorium adequately consider climate change?

Does the decision to lift Newfoundland’s cod moratorium adequately consider climate change?

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Bridging the gap between renters and retrofits: report
Bridging the gap between renters and retrofits: report

The experiences of renters in B.C. and disadvantages they experience are detailed in a report released this week by Ecotrust Canada. The report draws from interviews with renters, housing providers, tenant organizations, and poverty reduction organizations…

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ZERO CARBON

ZERO CARBON

Featured
Jasper and the great sadness
Jasper and the great sadness

The sadness for Jasper is twinned with foreboding. Fires will keep getting worse until we eliminate climate pollution. The laws of physics are unmoved by the excuses of lobbyists and lawmakers.

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Zooming off to jail for climate activism
Zooming off to jail for climate activism

Sentences for environmental activists set a new record for non-violent protest in the U.K, surpassing the three-year sentence given to another Just Stop Oil protestor who scaled the Queen Elizabeth II bridge over the Thames estuary.

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SUSTAINABLE CITIES
Featured
Canada’s cities lack the authority they need to quit natural gas, but it’s an important step in lowering urban carbon footprints
Canada’s cities lack the authority they need to quit natural gas, but it’s an important step in lowering urban carbon footprints

Like many foodies, Jodie Johnson likes to cook with cast-iron cookware on her gas stove — the open flame gets her pans from a little bit warm to piping hot in a matter of seconds.

However, her stove’s environmental impact hasn’t sat well with her for years. Johnson, who lives in a circa-1920s home in Vancouver, has slowly been swapping her polluting appliances for cleaner alternatives

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Canadian climate expert ‘foolishly optimistic’ about the future of sustainable cities
Canadian climate expert ‘foolishly optimistic’ about the future of sustainable cities

Yuill Herbert is an emission reduction adviser to some of Canada’s largest cities, but he does most of his work from Tatamagouche — a tiny village on the eastern edge of Nova Scotia.

Despite his love of country life, Herbert sees potential and beauty in cities and puts his energy into ensuring they are well-designed and adapted for a changing climate.

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SUSTAINABLE  CITIES

CANADA'S PLASTICS PROBLEM

CANADA’S   PLASTICS  PROBLEM

Featured
Toxic chemicals ‘a big, big problem,’ chemists warn, as countries try to strike plastic pollution deal
Toxic chemicals ‘a big, big problem,’ chemists warn, as countries try to strike plastic pollution deal

When Zhanyun Wang was a kid, his mother told him to avoid the sweet-smelling gases that sometimes drifted across his neighbourhood near Shanghai from nearby plastic factories. Anything that smelled "really nice," the now-researcher at the University of Zurich explained, was "probably very toxic."

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Alberta joins fray against federal plastic rules
Alberta joins fray against federal plastic rules

Alberta has sided with a coalition of major plastic producers suing to stop the federal government’s efforts to reduce plastic pollution.

In a Wednesday letter, Alberta's attorney general told the Federal Court of Canada that the province would intervene in an industry-led lawsuit against the federal government’s 2021 decision to list plastics as "toxic" under Canada's environmental laws.

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FIRST NATIONS FORWARD

FIRST  NATIONS  FORWARD

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BC First Nations are leading a waste revolution
BC First Nations are leading a waste revolution

B.C. First Nations are leading innovative recycling and zero-waste initiatives, reshaping local waste management and setting a model for sustainable practices across Canada.

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'Here We Stand': River journey protests controversial bills
'Here We Stand': River journey protests controversial bills

A 20-year-old university student from Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario is putting his summer on hold — and taking a 400-kilometre boat journey to protest against new provincial and federal bills he says threaten his people’s land, culture and way of life.

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COP 26

SPECIAL   REPORTS  FROM  COP 26

Featured
Looking forward on climate, the case for hope amid the heartbreak
Looking forward on climate, the case for hope amid the heartbreak

Grief is natural when contemplating a future where carbon emissions are not curtailed, but people should never lose hope.

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B.C. is not on track to meet climate goals: civil society groups
B.C. is not on track to meet climate goals: civil society groups

A campaign mounted by several B.C. climate and civil society groups is calling on the provincial government to set more ambitious climate targets and enact policies to reach them.

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DEMOCRACY & INTEGRITY

DEMOCRACY AND INTEGRITY:  Education on Climate Change

Featured
Have federal political parties abused data?
Have federal political parties abused data?

Canada's competition watchdog is looking into a complaint about the data-harvesting practices of the main federal political parties.

In its complaint to the commissioner of competition, the Centre for Digital Rights flagged what it calls the large-scale misuse of big data and targeted digital advertising of the Liberal, Conservative and New Democratic parties.

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The abuse Catherine McKenna receives on Twitter exploded the day the carbon tax started
The abuse Catherine McKenna receives on Twitter exploded the day the carbon tax started

Three days after the election, a blown-up photo of Catherine McKenna on the front window of her campaign office was defaced with a vulgar four-letter slur painted in deep red letters.

The Ottawa Centre MP, who served as environment minister for the last four years, was speechless in her reaction to seeing “c--t” written over her face, but wasn’t surprised.

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TOXINS IN CANADA

TOXINS   IN  CANADA

Featured
Did you know baby poo is loaded with microplastics?
Did you know baby poo is loaded with microplastics?

Whenever a plastic bag or bottle degrades, it breaks into ever smaller pieces that work their way into nooks in the environment.

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Farm documentary was part of pesticide PR strategy
Farm documentary was part of pesticide PR strategy

The documentary opens onto beautiful blue skies, fields of wheat and a house on a farm in Saskatchewan, as country music plays in the background.

The Englots, a family growing wheat, soybeans and canola, discuss their day over morning coffee. Loretta, the mom will tend to her horse and the dogs, while dad Norman and son Luc will scout the field to check for weeds.

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CANADA'S CLEAN ECONOMY

CANADA’S  CLEAN  ECONOMY and Green Stimulus

Featured
Canada needs a massive battery
Canada needs a massive battery

The federal government is developing Clean Energy Regulations (CER) to help move the electrical grid to net-zero emissions. The regulations, among other measures, will encourage adding more renewable energy to the grid, which will eventually replace coal and natural gas electricity generation in Canada.

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Green bonds are going from 'niche' to 'mainstream': Can Canada catch up?
Green bonds are going from 'niche' to 'mainstream': Can Canada catch up?

These days, as the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan decides where to invest its billions, every move it makes is green-tested by future investors — environmental crusaders like Aliya Hirji.

At 16, Hirji, is younger than most organizers in her youth-led climate change advocacy group, Fridays for Future Toronto. She studies the financial markets and their intersection with climate change.

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