Net Zero Pillars Collapse but "The Green Grendel" still Haunts Canada's Economy says Friends of Science Society in Podcast and New Report

CALGARY, AB, July 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Energy analyst Dr. Tammy Nemeth interviewed Michelle Stirling on The Nemeth Report episode titled, "Net-Zero Exposed: Challenging the Climate Catastrophe Narrative."  Stirling is the spokesperson and Communications Manager for Friends of Science Society who offered insights on the collapse of the main pillars of net zero policies, which now lack scientific and economic foundation.

The conversation explores the Friends of Science's recent open letters to Canada's banking regulator, Open Letter to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions in Canada (OSFI) and the growing risks to Canadian privacy, prosperity, and financial institutions from net zero.

Part of that risk is found in the ballooning costs and subsidies of net zero industrial carbon tax policies and the Pathways/Oil Sands Alliance Carbon Capture and Storage project, as outlined in this new Friends of Science Society video, "Timbit Industrial Carbon Tax Becomes Soccer Ball-sized Burden."

In "The Green Grendel," a new Friends of Science Society report by retired energy economist, Robert Lyman, he addresses the relentless, voracious appetite of the 'green' climate activist movement in Canada, as they claim that Prime Minister Carney has abandoned his climate goals.  In fact, the opposite is true.  Lyman references the historic saga of Beowulf versus the monster Grendel in regard to climate activism, writing:

"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."

"…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."

Lyman's report features an annex that lists 20 transportation climate initiatives, the cost and scope of which are staggering. Probably most Canadian citizens are blissfully unaware that this 'climate action' is methodically burdening the cost of living and creating ever more red tape for the transportation industry, in the second largest country on earth.

If, as argued by Stirling in the podcast with Dr. Tammy Nemeth, that the scientific and economic pillars of net-zero have collapsed, then what purpose do these climate regulations serve? 

Stirling argued that the official climate modelling community has deemed the climate scenario known as RCP 8.5/SSP5-8.5 to be implausible, as explained in plain language by Roger Pielke, Jr. in this post. RCP 8.5 was not abandoned because renewables became less expensive, nor due to the proliferation of climate policies, nor climate policy 'success', as many politicians and climate activists have claimed. RCP 8.5 was the so-called 'climate emergency' scenario which also formed the basis of the influential Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) SR 1.5 report of 2018. Those findings cannot be deemed to be reliable anymore, yet they are being used as the basis for Canada's developing "Sustainable Finance Taxonomy".

On the economics, the climate damage report known as Kotz et al. (2024) was formally retracted by NATURE in early December of 2024, as reported by Retraction Watch.  The Network for Greening the Financial Future group of central bankers had relied upon its wildly exaggerated climate damage function for preparing net zero climate risk analyses.

Most recently, a paper colloquially known as "Wedges" from 2004 came under scrutiny, as reported by the American Enterprise Institute.  This paper had convincingly argued that humanity had the technology required to go off fossil fuels "wedge" at a time, when that clearly is not true.

The fundamental three pillars of the push for net zero – an impending climate emergency (RCP 8.5), one that would cost trillions (Kotz et al. 2024), when the solutions were at hand – we just needed the will ("Wedges" 2024) have all collapsed, taking the need for net zero with them.  These points are argued in a Friends of Science Society recent OSFI, titled: "No Scientific or Economic Rationale Remains for Net Zero and Carbon Markets".

Friends of Science Society is asking for a public statement on these material changes from OSFI.

About
Friends of Science Society is an independent group of earth, atmospheric and solar scientists, engineers, and citizens that is celebrating its 24th year of offering climate science insights. After a thorough review of a broad spectrum of literature on climate change, Friends of Science Society has concluded that the sun is the main driver of climate change, not carbon dioxide (CO2).

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SOURCE Friends of Science Society