Climate Change | “Quebec’s response is not up to par”

Expert report recommends moratorium on road projects

Eric-Pierre Champagne
The Press

Quebec must give a boost if it wants to achieve its carbon neutrality goal by 2050, warns the committee of experts responsible for advising the government on climate change. In a new report, the group recommends two moratoriums to the Legault government: stop the destruction of natural environments and put on hold in the short term any authorization for new projects that increase motorway capacity.

In a forty-page opinion that will be made public this Monday at 9 a.m., the Advisory Committee on Climate Change issues a serious warning to the Government of Quebec. The electrification of transport will not be enough to deal with the climate emergency. It is the whole land use planning that must be reviewed in depth as soon as possible.

The Advisory Committee on Climate Change is an independent organization whose mission is to advise the Quebec Minister of the Environment “on orientations, programs, policies and strategies in the fight against climate change”. Its opinions are public.

In its most recent opinion entitled Land use planning in Quebec: fundamental to the fight against climate changethe committee reports to the Legault government that “Quebec’s response is not up to the climate emergency, however.”

The report states that the new National Policy on Architecture and Land Use Planning, which is scheduled to be unveiled this spring, “should mark a major shift from previous practices and become a powerful tool in the fight against climate change.” This policy is eagerly awaited by the municipal world, which wants to see Quebec set clearer rules to limit urban sprawl and better protect agricultural land and natural environments. In particular, this will set the government’s main directions in terms of development and urban planning.

Stop the artificialization of Quebec

The committee recommends that the government quickly adopt two moratoria, the time to acquire assessment tools that take into account the impacts of climate change on land use planning.

The first moratorium aims to stop “the artificialization of southern Quebec” which continues at high speed, while natural environments disappear each year.

The report recalls that in the south of the province, artificial surfaces increased by 9.3% between 1994 and 2007, which represents an area of ​​278 km^⁠2the equivalent of the city of Laval.

However, the destruction of these natural environments has the effect of releasing the carbon stored there, in addition to eliminating these essential carbon sinks, particularly in urban areas. “The disadvantage is then double without counting all the other benefits that we lose in addition to the loss of biodiversity”, points out Jérôme Dupras, professor in the department of natural sciences at the University of Quebec in Outaouais and co-author of the report unveiled on Monday.

The committee therefore suggests “a moratorium on any zoning change resulting in a loss of natural environments”, while, among other things, Quebec adopts “clear objectives for the conservation and restoration of natural environments” and draws up an action plan to achieve the target of 30% protected areas on its territory by 2030.

The report insists on “an adequate distribution” of these protected areas, so that they are not found mainly in the north of the province.

The other moratorium aims not to increase “motorway capacity in the six metropolitan regions of Quebec as long as a public mechanism for evaluating the interactions between mobility, urban planning and transport supply is fully operational to avoid encouraging the urban sprawl and dependence on the solo car”.

Energy substitution will not be enough

In interview with The Press, the chairman of the committee, Alain Webster, denies wanting to send a message about the controversial third link project in Quebec. “Our report does not look at a specific project. We know that there are transportation issues, that’s clear. Our message is not that nothing should happen anymore. What we are saying is that we have to integrate the issue of climate change into our evaluation processes,” says the man who teaches environmental economics at the University of Sherbrooke.

The stakes are all the more important, recalls the committee, since “energy substitution alone will not be sufficient. In transport, for example, the electrification of cars and light trucks should allow a reduction in emissions in 2030 of 13% compared to emissions in 1990 and this reduction would reach 50% in 2035”. Energy substitution must therefore “be accompanied by greater energy efficiency and a reduction in total demand”, it is stated.

“Quebec’s land development model has historically been based on a high level of resource consumption. It must be redefined so that Quebec has a chance of achieving its climate objectives and limiting the damage caused by a changing climate as much as possible,” the report concludes.

“The climatic emergency commands an electric shock in the face of regional planning, adds Jérôme Dupras. We must repair the mistakes of the past, especially in southern Quebec. The opportunity is there, you have to seize it. »

The report made public on Monday was sent to the Minister of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change on April 5.