Arctic Oil & Gas Symposium

12th-13th March 2013 Calgary, Alberta, Canada

North America's Premier Arctic Oil & Gas Conference

Covering the latest developments and exciting opportunities in the North since 2001, the Arctic Oil & Gas Symposium is the gathering place for industry players, community leaders, government and regulators involved in northern projects.

Canada's SDTC funds four biodiesel, biorefining projects

The Sustainable Development Technology Canada’s SD Tech Fund invested $53 million in 17 new clean technology projects across Canada in the areas of agriculture, transportation, mining and energy. Of those 17, four directly went to biodiesel and biorefining-related projects.

Sarnia, Ontario-based biodiesel fuel developer Azule Fuels Inc. received $1.6 million from the SDTC to develop a second-gen biorefinery to demonstrate commercial feasibility and acceptance of biodiesel production using feedstocks that aren’t competitive with consumer food chains.

RF, Canada can widely cooperate in Arctic - ambassador

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Canada and Russia can cooperate in the Arctic on a wide range of issues, Anton Vasilyev, RF Foreign Ministry’ s Ambassador at Large, in charge of issues of international cooperation in the Arctic, said in an interview with Itar-Tass. He took part in a working meeting of members of the Committee of Senior Officials of the Arctic Council that ended in the Canadian capital on Thursday.

“We have very good cooperation at the international level,” he stressed. “The Arctic is changing, new opportunities and new challenges emerge, and they are the factors that move the relationship in one direction - rapprochement and cooperation.”

As an example of Russian-Canadian cooperation he cited the project of the Krasnoyarsk-Winnipeg air bridge. “Much work is ahead, we are to settle a number of technical issues, approve the project at the session of the Russia-Canada intergovernmental economic commission,” he noted. “But already now there is a reason to believe that the prospects of an air bridge between Winnipeg and Krasnoyarsk are quite real. This project meets the interests of all, there is infrastructure for its implementation, so it should go ahead.”

On thin ice

Canada’s Northwest Passage is now navigable during the summer due to global climate change. Tim Levy, CEO of Future Capital Partners, was part of a team that made the crossing to promote the role of businesses in investing in green energy.

It is widely accepted that industrial development and rapid population growth has led to a dramatic increase in atmospheric CO2. We are modifying the environment in which we live without fully understanding the ecological consequences, and some of the changes in global climatic conditions are already obvious and pungent.

Canada on Sustainable Development in Ghana

The Canadian High Commission, in collaboration with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) held a Panel Discussion on the “Role of Sustainable Development in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Practice – the fifth in a series of panel discussions hosted by Canada to provide an opportunity for participants to share views, best practices, and lessons learned in the engagement on Corporate Social Responsibility in Ghana.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined as the way companies integrate social, environmental, and economic concerns into their values and operations in a transparent and accountable manner.

The G20 in Seoul: It's a Whole New World

Two years after it succeeded the G7 as the world’s primary venue for economic cooperation the G20 is running into a reality that limited its predecessor and is only more constraining since China, India, Brazil and 10 more interests took seats at the big table: Different national conditions demand different policies.

Here’s another stark fact: When you’re biggest economy on the planet you can do pretty much as you please, and describe it in whatever terms you choose. Thus the US Federal Reserve embarks on a second round of quantitative easing, despite the damage it may do to the US dollar and the implications for other countries that already do or would like to export their way to economic health.

Turning to another front with important implications for investors, in the wake of a resounding defeat in Nov. 2 midterm elections Congressional Democrats and President Obama are more likely to pass and sign a bill that merely extends preferential tax rates on dividends and capital gains rather than enact a permanent policy. Events of the last 24 months have also re-shaped the debate on this issue.