Contributed by Robert Lyman © 2026. Robert Lyman’s bio can be read here.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf contains references to a fearsome human-like monster who terrorizes the castle of King Hrothgar for twelve years, devouring warriors. He is insatiable, and his hide is impervious to iron weapons until the hero Beowulf mortally wounds him.
I was reminded of this story as I read the reaction of Canadian environmentalists to the recent admission by Prime Minister Mark Carney that some federal government climate policies must be adapted in the interests of national unity and global market stability. A typical response of environmental activists, often repeated in the media, was that “Carney has abandoned the climate”. Alas, they are never satisfied with the policies and measures that have been taken and remain in place. Like Grendel, they seem ever-ready to kill their rivals and impervious to opposition.
They also seem unaware that Canadian governments have for almost 36 years used the complete toolkit of policy and program responses to reduce GHG emissions – regulation, taxation, tax incentives, subsidies, standards and codes, research and development, government procurement, and others. There are no authoritative estimates of the number of policies and measures that federal, provincial and municipal governments have taken.
Even if all the environmentalists’ criticisms of Carney were valid, however, would it be true that he has abandoned his long-held support for radical emissions reductions? As a partial illustration of the number and intrusiveness of current policy measures, I here list and briefly describe 20 of the federal government measures in one sector of the economy – transportation.
One has to wonder why such extensive and costly measures are being taken to reduce such a small part of Canada’s total emissions. The most recent federal goal is to reduce total emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2035. One could eliminate every car, SUV and pickup truck in Canada (an impossible goal) and still only make it one third of the way to that goal. Reducing emissions from passenger transportation has been a core part of the climate policy agenda since 1990, yet passenger-related transport emissions have increased from 80 MTCO2eq to 94 MTCO2eq over that time.
Perhaps Canadians will one day find a way to slay the green Grendel.
Continue reading in the PDF file.
Excellent analogy.