Politicians tell us that more pipelines are needed to carry bitumen and natural gas and strengthen the Canadian economy. But these long tubes carry something else as well: tens of billions of dollars of public money. A new Alberta-to-BC pipeline will cost more than $100 billion, according to the CEO of Imperial Oil Ltd.

And the costs do not end when construction is finished.

Writing for the Energy Institute, an international organization of energy professionals, economist Meredith Fowlie recently asked, “Why are we sinking billions into a gas system we plan to leave behind?“

Professor Fowlie was not referring to major pipelines. Her concern was the vast network of urban gas-distribution pipes beneath our streets—systems that require continuous maintenance, repair, and replacement, even as scientists say we must pursue electrification and lower fossil fuel consumption.

Fowlie cites the American Gas Association:

Canadian utilities claim to be spending $5 billion to $6 billion in a year for distribution system maintenance and expansion.

That raises an important question for all nations: How much should we continue investing in fossil-fuel infrastructure that should be used less and less over the years ahead?

The debate is not simply about whether pipelines can move energy. It is about whether today’s investments will still make economic sense tomorrow—and whether continuing to expand fossil-fuel infrastructure is compatible with the climate risks already confronting us.

Events this month are a warning that electrification cannot be postponed while we continue building systems that lock in decades of natural-gas consumption. The costs of climate disruption are not theoretical; they are measured in destroyed communities, damaged infrastructure, disrupted lives, and growing public expenditures.

Fossil fuels are the main driver of climate change. In 2026, we are seeing very different weather extremes happening at the same time. Examples:

• Hawaii: more than a metre of rain from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Lala. On Hawaii’s Big Island, Laupahoehoe recorded 43.54 inches — about 1.1 metres — of rain. Gusts reached 140 mph (225 km/h) on Mauna Kea. About 100 homes were swept from their foundations, roads and bridges were destroyed, and nearly 104,000 customers were without electricity Monday. Lala never actually made landfall.

• China: Typhoon Dolphin travelled 6,000 km and lived for 16 days. Dolphin formed near the International Date Line and became the farthest-origin typhoon ever to make landfall in China. Its 16-day lifespan was about three times normal. It then carried tremendous amounts of water deep inland, breaking daily rainfall records at 13 weather stations. A Beijing district received 90.7 mm in one hour, its highest hourly rainfall since records began there in 1954.

• Japan: more than 360 mm of rain in 24 hours beside Tokyo. Chiba Prefecture received more than 14 inches of rain in a day, producing lethal urban flooding. Eight people were reported killed, more than 20,000 homes lost electricity, and roughly 7,000 travellers were stranded at Narita Airport. The governor of Chiba described the situation as unlike anything he had encountered in previous disasters.

• British Columbia: a wildfire became powerful enough to make its own weather. The Bald Range fire near the Okanagan expanded extraordinarily quickly, forcing more than 20,000 people to evacuate. Provincial officials described flames extending about 200 feet above 100-foot trees. The fire generated its own weather system and lightning, creating a feedback process capable of starting or intensifying additional fires.

• Europe: wildfires have reached places where fires of this scale are exceptional. Belgium is fighting the largest wildfire in its recorded history in the normally damp High Fens. It has burned about 3,000 hectares and penetrated deep peat, meaning portions could smoulder underground for months. Meanwhile, a single Andalusian fire has burned nearly 40,000 hectares. Across Europe, about 576,000 hectares have burned this year, with more than 20 deaths and hundreds of thousands of evacuations.

• Western Europe: heat and drought on an enormous geographical scale. Western Europe has experienced its hottest June–July period on record, with some countries suffering their fourth heatwave since May. Reuters estimated that around 204 million people in Western Europe would experience temperatures at least 5°C above the historical norm during the current spell. England has about 45 million people living in drought areas, while exceptionally low water is interfering with shipping on the Rhine and Danube and even forcing nuclear plants to curtail generation.

• United States: floods and extreme heat occurring simultaneously. Repeated thunderstorms have produced deadly flooding from the Midwest eastward. At least seven people died in Indiana, while West Virginia received more than 100 mm of rain in places, triggering flash floods and mudslides. At essentially the same time, extreme-heat warnings covered parts of Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, Arizona, Nevada, and California. Illinois has experienced more than 200 tornadoes, with one-third of the year left to go. That number of violent windsorms is four times the long-term experience.

• South Asia: an enormous monsoon flood-and-landslide zone. The WMO has warned of heavy to locally very heavy rain stretching across India, eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, and parts of Southeast Asia, with flash flood and landslide danger. Dozens of people have already died in India, while exceptionally heavy rainfall has repeatedly hit Himalayan regions where steep terrain turns cloudbursts into catastrophic floods.

• West Africa: severe flooding while other parts of Africa are unusually hot and dry. The WMO reports heavy monsoon rainfall and flooding in parts of West Africa. What makes the larger African pattern remarkable is the contrast: NOAA says Africa just experienced its warmest July on record, while drought and water shortages are affecting other regions of the continent.

The planet itself: extraordinary heat in both the atmosphere and oceans. This may be the most important event of all. NOAA says July 2026 tied July 2024 as the warmest July on record globally, while North America, Africa, and Asia each experienced their warmest July on record. Global sea-surface temperatures were also the highest ever measured for July. Western Europe is experiencing strong-to-severe marine heatwaves, while a strengthening El Niño is adding another source of heat and atmospheric disruption.