In the short term, renewable electricity – mostly wind power – will replace two-thirds of the electricity now produced by coal-fired power generation in Alberta’s electricity supply mix, with natural gas making up baseload power supply.
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Notley will take her plan into a meeting of Canadian premiers with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to prepare Canada’s national strategy at the upcoming Paris climate change summit.
That status has prompted fierce opposition from environmental groups to proposed pipelines that would allow the industry to access new markets, including the recently rejected Keystone XL pipeline, proposed by TransCanada Corp.
“Canadians expect their government to be responsible around climate change and addressing the impacts of the environment we’re facing around the world right now”, Trudeau said after the swearing in ceremony.
Under Harper, federally employed climate scientists were reportedly blocked from giving press conferences or comments. He says companies such as Suncor, CNRL, Shell Canada and Cenovus are glad they can still operate in the Alberta, noting during the federal election campaign the possibility of a federal NDP government shutting down the oilsands seemed a real possibility.
What are the key components?
For starters, Trudeau added “climate change” to the title for his new environment minister.
“Our country needs a serious effort in rebranding on this theme of climate change and energy”, he said. But the Liberals also promise to come up with a plan to actually curb emissions, which in itself will be more than the last two governments managed. “In 2013, Alberta emitted 267 megatons of greenhouse gases, Under this plan, in 2030, after 15 years of this plan and $45B, the goverment has projected the province will have emitted 270 megatons”.
Greg Clark, Alberta Party Leader, says he’s broadly in favour of the strategy, but wants to know how the billions will be spent and allocated.
The really, really big elephant in Alberta’s room is its lucrative but destructive and emissions- intensive tar sands industry. “People think twice about the Hummer instead of buying a Prius, for example”.
Gore congratulated Notley and encouraged this first step be followed by ” … continued bold action to transition away from fossil fuels”.
“The challenges we face as a country require a true partnership between the federal government and the provinces and territories, which can only be achieved by sitting down together and engaging in an open and continuous dialogue”, said the Prime Minister in a statement.
Policy experts including Warren Mabee similarly praised the move, but raised several questions about the implementation.
The main difference, I gather, is in the sheer volume of emissions produced in our neighbour to the east, both from the petroleum sector (burning natural gas to unlock bitumen from the oilsands) and electrical generation.
“It draws a lot of parallels from the carbon tax that is already levied in British Columbia”, says McInerney. “We are extremely pleased with the unwavering commitment the province has made today to ensure the air we breathe is clean”, said Noah Farber, acting president and CEO, Asthma Society of Canada.
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The plan, released in Edmonton on Sunday, was created under the guidance of the Climate Change Advisory Panel and will see Alberta’s reliance on coal diminished and eventually phased out.
