Quebec, which is on the verge of missing its targets in the fight against climate change must decarbonize the industrial sector, the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the province.
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This is the conclusion reached by the Institute for Socioeconomic Research and Information (IRIS) in a note, published on Wednesday, which emphasizes the imbalance between the carbon footprint of polluting industries and their contribution to the environment. Quebec economy.
According to this study, in 2019, ten Quebec companies alone were responsible for nearly half of the emissions attributable to the industrial sector, while the latter emits 30% of GHGs in Quebec.
Businesses in the industrial sector have a disproportionate environmental impact compared to the economic benefits induced for Quebec, since the 72 most polluting industrial establishments, with less than 1% of jobs, are responsible for 22% of GHGs.
“To limit global warming, relying on the electrification of transport is not enough. Major polluters in Quebec must redouble their efforts to reduce their environmental footprint,” said Colin Pratte, co-author of the note and associate researcher at IRIS.
All of the shareholders of the ten companies responsible for half of the industrial sector’s emissions are located abroad, which is detrimental to the retention of the wealth created in the province.
“Not only do a handful of industrial establishments increase Quebec’s carbon footprint from year to year, but the economic benefit that the Quebec population derives from it is altogether limited,” lamented Mr. Pratte.
IRIS believes that the ecological transition that these polluting industries must make must however be planned to prevent it from being harmful to the regions of Quebec that depend on them.
QS calls for a Summit
Faced with these figures, the spokesperson for Québec solidaire and responsible for the fight against climate change, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, asked Premier François Legault to convene a National Climate Summit bringing together businesses, unions, citizen associations and indigenous communities.
“We have to get everyone around the table to establish a real game plan to achieve Quebec’s GHG reduction objectives. We are going into the wall, it takes a real collective project, ”he said in an email to the QMI Agency.