In January, the new Biden administration revoked a Trump-era permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, a long-proposed pipe linking Canadian tar sands to Gulf Coast refineries and shipping hubs. The project was considered by climate watchdogs to be an apocalyptically bad idea from the outset.

In a Wednesday announcement, Canadian company TC Energy announced that it would be scrapping the project. Without the necessary permits, the pipeline had no immediate path forward.

As usual, there is little assurance that this will be a permanent climate victory. Those with rights to the Canadian tar sands are still motivated to bring it to market by any means necessary, and the shuttering of one pipeline project does not assure that other versions will not be introduced in its place. Its cancellation was, however, of necessity in any reasonable world plan to stop the very worst of climate change from happening.