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The Canadian Climate Institute emphasizes the necessity of the Clean Electricity Regulations (CER) to provide market stability and ensure carbon neutrality by 2050. It highlights the need to double or triple grid capacity to support electrification and warns that federal standards are required to prevent provincial setbacks and manage demand from data centers and industry. The text specifically notes the importance of negotiating an equivalence agreement with Alberta to ensure provincial policies achieve the same emission reductions as the federal regulation.

The author reflects on the mixed progress of 2024, noting record renewable deployment alongside rising global emissions and a political shift toward anti-climate positions. To overcome these hurdles, the author proposes a strategy focused on the lowest-cost electricity mix, including 'clean firm' technologies like nuclear and geothermal, and the use of carbon capture in heavy industry. The document emphasizes the need for regionally differentiated policies and a realistic acknowledgment of the long-term role of fossil fuels to build durable coalitions for action.

The EU is facing a 'planning gap' where ambitious climate goals lack the detailed implementation roadmaps necessary for success. This is evidenced by draft National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) that lack credibility and substance, particularly regarding carbon capture and storage, methane reduction, and small modular reactors. The author urges Member States to use the remaining time before the June 2024 deadline to transform NECPs from bureaucratic exercises into strategic priorities that provide investor certainty and resilience against supply chain or geopolitical bottlenecks.