Scientists and academics are urging the Trudeau government to step up and impose a cap on emissions from the fossil fuel sector by 2025.
Faced with the imminent forest fire season, more than 200 scientists and academics sent a letter to the Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, on Tuesday, to signal the urgency of imposing a cap on oil and gas companies.
They believe that emissions from these industries must be capped by 2025 “at the latest”, therefore adopting a draft regulation by the summer.
The signatories also call for eliminating “all loopholes currently provided for in the framework published last December”.
The federal government announced in December a regulatory framework to cap greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector, in order to reduce them by at least a third by 2030.
“Pass rights”
The proposed cap-and-trade system aims to limit pollution, not production, and it includes relaxations “to meet global demand for oil and gas.”
The federal government is proposing to cap emissions in 2030 at 35 to 38% below 2019 levels, but in reality, if relaxations are taken into account, the industry will be able to produce emissions levels of 20 to 23% below. 2019 levels, provided companies purchase offset credits or contribute to a decarbonization fund.
According to the scientists and academics who signed the letter, these relaxations will not really reduce emissions.
“Allowing all these privileges simply allows oil and gas companies to buy their right to pollute rather than reduce their actual emissions. This would be a failure for Canada in achieving its objectives for 2030 or 2050,” lamented Éric Pineault, professor at the UQAM Institute of Sciences.
“We will not see real climate progress until emissions from the oil sector are truly and significantly reduced,” added Angela Carter, Chair of Equitable Energy Governance and Public Policy at Memorial University. .
The signatories argue that the next decade will be crucial to reducing emissions and keeping temperature rise to 1.5°C.
“Our climate will not tolerate further delay: from wildfires to floods to extreme heat waves, Canadians are already experiencing the devastating effects of climate change,” they emphasize in the letter.