Trudeau is expected to resist calls to overhaul his predecessor’s Stephen Harper pledge before the summit, but could revise Canada’s “intended nationally determined contribution” and take steps on natiowide carbon pricing by March. Achieving this 45 per cent methane reduction across Canada would be the equivalent of eliminating 27 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, providing the same climate benefit as taking every passenger auto off the road in British Columbia and Alberta according to data from Statistics Canada and Canada’s National Inventory Report.
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Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, left, announces her government’s new climate protection plan in the presence of Alberta’s Minister of Environment and Parks Shannon Phillips, right, Edmonton, Alta. He has said his government will put a price on carbon, set emission-reduction targets and adopt tougher environmental reviews for energy projects. “This plan recognizes the need for a balance between the environment and the economy”. Now, more than ever, we need a rigorous review of pipelines that includes considering the emissions facilitated by these projects.
The price of carbon in 2017 will be $20/tonne, escalating to $30/tonne by 2018, with the potential for annual increases equal to inflation plus two percent, depending on the cost of carbon in competing jurisdictions.
“Alberta is showing leadership on one of the world’s biggest problems, and doing our part”, said Notley, the daughter of another Alberta NDP leader, MLA Grant Notley (1971-1984).
This announcement has been heavily foreshadowed by promises from the federal and provincial governments to use climate policy as a selling point to expand fossil fuel development in Canada.
A portion of collected revenues will be invested directly into measures to reduce pollution, including clean energy research and technology; green infrastructure, such as public transit; and, programs to help Albertans reduce their energy use. He rejected it after seven years of review. “We are going to write a made-in-Alberta policy that works for our province and our industries, and keeps our capital here in Alberta”.
Still, Suncor Energy Inc. chief executive Steve Williams, Shell Canada head Lorraine Mitchelmore, Cenovus Energy Inc.
But as remarkable as it was for the likes of both oilpatch billionaire Murray Edwards, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.’s chairman, and former USA vice president Al Gore, an outspoken advocate for tougher climate action, to back the plan, not everyone is singing its praises.
“Our goal is to become one of the world’s most progressive and forward-looking energy producers”, Notley said in a speech to launch the Climate Leadership Plan.
A 100-megatonne cap on carbon emissions from the oil sands, Canada’s fastest-growing source of emissions, once new rules are adopted. Given the rough ride that Alberta’s gas industry has had for several years due to the rise of shale gas in the USA, this will be a big stimulus for them.
But whether voters will see it that way when the price of gasoline at the pumps and fuel to heat their homes is going to increase measurably is another matter.
University of Alberta professor of environmental sociology and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) lead author Debra Davidson agrees the coal industry and its workers will be hardest hit, but suggested a manageable transition.
Will Notley’s climate change strategy be good enough for Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government in Ottawa?
“The oil-sands emissions limit will give the world certainty that our emissions will not grow unchecked”. It also doesn’t limit oil sands production, per se, but rather demands that production adopt more innovative technologies, thus reducing its carbon footprint to something closer to conventional oil in the long run.
Kudos were not universal, however.
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The strategy also involves closing down coal plants by 2030 and replacing that electricity with natural gas and renewable energy, primarily from wind.
