By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Canada’s long-awaited plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is not aligned with the country’s fair share and contains problematic funding promises for the oil and gas industry, some politicians say.
Released March 29, the plan charts a path for Canada to reduce its emissions 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 with a sector-by-sector breakdown of where those cuts should be.
The increased oil and gas production forecasted in the emissions reduction roadmap and the federal government’s delay in delivering a decision on a major offshore oil project “(raise) fair questions with respect to the credibility of this plan,” Green Party MP Mike Morrice told Canada’s National Observer.
For each sector, the plan looks at current emissions, what has been done so far, what feedback the government has received and what’s next. It calls on the oil and gas industry — Canada’s most polluting sector — to slash emissions 31 per cent relative to 2005 levels by 2030.
“This plan is not aligned with climate science in terms of our fair share, of getting to 1.5 degrees as the maximum increase in global average temperatures,” said Morrice. “That would be more along the lines of a 60 per cent target by 2030, and it’s really squandering precious little time we have left to hold on to a safe climate future for our kids and grandkids.”
While there are promising investments, he said, like almost $460 million in loans for home energy retrofits to low-income households, it’s “difficult to celebrate that when you also see $50 billion in new tax credits to oil and gas companies” for carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS).
“That completely overshadows any promising investments that are included in real climate solutions,” said Morrice. Over 30,000 Canadians and more than 400 academics agree and have sent letters calling on the federal government and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to scrap the proposed CCUS tax credit.
In a statement to Canada’s National Observer, Bloc Québécois MP Monique Pauzé reiterated the Bloc’s opposition to the CCUS tax credit.
“‘Utilization’ should definitely not be subsidized through a tax credit,” her statement reads. “Raking the bottom of an oilsands field for the profit of big oil shareholders with the help of public funds is irresponsible, even indecent.”
Pauzé also noted the emissions reduction plan points to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) findings that even a carbon-neutral scenario projects continued use of oil and gas worldwide.
“This convenient statement omits the (IEA’s) recommendations to not pursue any new fossil fuel projects and actively work to decline fossil fuel production. Neither are in this (emissions reduction plan),” Pauzé’s statement reads.
Also lacking from the plan, she said, is a roadmap for green finance, a cap on oil and gas production and “real emissions” and clear language around eliminating fossil fuel subsidies.
The Liberals promised a cap on oil and gas emissions last fall. Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said the cap will be informed by the emissions reductions plan and oil and gas sector projections and is still undergoing consultations.
On March 29, Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley called the federal emissions reduction plan a “fantasy.”
The plan does have some “interesting measures,” the Green Party’s interim leader Amita Kuttner told Canada’s National Observer.
For the transportation sector, it promises to expand the electric vehicle rebate program by $1.7 billion and allocate another $400 million to install charging stations for electric vehicles.
“In terms of oil and gas, there’s language in here about supporting workers and skills training and stuff like that, but I’m not sure that’s nearly enough,” said Kuttner. “Whenever I see the inclusion of an increase in oil and gas production … I just hear alarm bells.”
In a press release, Laurel Collins, the NDP’s critic for environment and climate change, said the plan “is far from what is needed, both in terms of addressing the climate crisis and protecting workers who are impacted by it.”
She also pointed to comments made last week by Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson that Canada could increase oil and gas exports by up to 300,000 barrels per day in 2022 to address supply shortages caused by the crisis in Ukraine.
On March 29, Wilkinson reiterated this stance at a press conference and said: “Canada is going to step up and do what it can to help our European friends and allies. It would be irresponsible for us to do anything other than that.”
The NDP will “be using its power to deliver stronger climate action,” and the upcoming federal budget will be another opportunity for the federal government to show it takes the climate emergency seriously, Collins’ statement reads.
The NDP and Liberals recently struck a deal expected to last until 2025. In exchange for the NDP’s pledge not to bring down the minority government, the Liberals have agreed to work together on shared priorities like dental care, pharmacare and climate action.
The agreement includes no new climate policies beyond what was already outlined in the last federal budget.
In a joint statement, MPs Kyle Seeback, Conservative shadow minister for environment and climate change; Greg McLean, Conservative shadow minister for natural resources; and Luc Berthold, deputy leader of the official Opposition, called the emissions reduction plan “a renewed commitment by the Liberal government to miss even greater targets and attack more Canadian jobs.”
Top photo credit: SUNCOR base camp with contractors row in the foreground by Jason Woodenhead via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)
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