Canada’s GHG emissions | Good, but not enough, critics say

The federal government’s new emissions reduction plan recognizes that global demand for natural gas and oil will continue for decades to come and that Canada has a role to play in providing low-emission energy.

This plan gives businesses greater certainty for the remainder of the decade, while providing more detail on the steps Canada will take to move the country closer to carbon neutrality. Our industry will continue to lead by example to achieve this ambitious goal.

This plan has a better chance of success than any Canadian climate plan that preceded it. Sector-by-sector emissions projections tied to specific measures provide the accountability that will help keep Canada on track.

We want to say “finally”, because it is the first time that we have in our hands such a detailed strategy to achieve the objective that we have set ourselves. On the other hand, if we want to limit the rise in temperature to 1.5 ℃ and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the next step now consists in raising the current target.

It was double or quits, and the minister said double. Ottawa has just invested massively in our best ally: nature. Nature’s solutions for the climate have the potential to contribute to the achievement of GHG reduction objectives, which we cannot do without in the context of a climate emergency.

We are delighted with the additional investments announced, which will make it possible to double the amounts available in the Nature-Based Climate Solutions Fund in order to support projects aimed at conserving, restoring and improving ecosystems to capture carbon and protect our living environments from floods and heat waves.

The 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan offers more detail and transparency than any other Canadian climate plan to date, but fails to capture the urgency of the moment. The measures provided for in this plan only reduce emissions by 40%, which is the lower limit of the range to which the government is committed.

For the first time, a Canadian climate plan calls for the oil and gas sector to significantly reduce its emissions. However, the demands on the oil and gas industry are insufficient and the plan is too focused on public funding of risky technological solutions rather than the transition to clean energy.

If the past is a guarantee of the future with these Liberals, I do not believe that these new targets are achievable and that this government will succeed in reaching them.

The plan proposed by the government to reduce emissions is so disappointing. It is a plan that does not include the elimination of oil subsidies. It is a plan that continues to give more money to the oil companies and to give them a free pass.

There are concrete measures in this plan, but the addition of all these measures will never achieve any target whatsoever. Moreover, it will be recalled that Canada has never reached its reduction targets.

The government has not yet understood that this is an emergency. Even if the plan is full of good measures that I like, it is worthless if they do not allow us to have a climate in which we can survive.