(Quebec) The CAQ government wants to lower expectations regarding its next plan to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The next update of its Implementation Plan (PMO) will make less progress than the plans of previous years, according to what the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, suggested on Wednesday.
The 2023 PMO financed 60% of the effort required to achieve the GHG reduction target planned for 2030, i.e. 9% more than the 2022 plan, while the 2022 plan itself represented a 9% jump. also compared to the 2021 plan.
However, the 2024 plan will be less ambitious.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Quebec Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette
“We will not take steps of 9% each year,” warned Mr. Charette, in response to a question from MP Alejandra Zaga Mendez, of Québec solidaire (QS), in the study of the appropriations of the Ministry of the environment.
“The more we advance, the more difficult it is” to reduce GHG emissions in Quebec, he continued.
The Parti Québécois (PQ) was concerned about the messages sent by the minister. MP Joël Arseneau noted that the progression curve towards the target must be constant since there are barely five years left to progress by 40% in the implementation of financial and regulatory measures.
“Are you telling us that we won’t achieve our goals? » asked the member for Îles-de-la-Madeleine.
“No, not at all,” assured Mr. Charette.
The curve that we have been able to take in recent years allows us to believe that this is realistic. When I say realistic, I don’t mean easy.
Benoit Charette, Minister of the Environment
However, he assured that the 2030 target was still achievable and that it was realistic.
Remember that Quebec has committed to reducing its GHG emissions by 37.5% compared to the 1990 level, in accordance with its international commitments made during the Paris Agreement in 2015. The ultimate objective is to achieve carbon neutrality, i.e. emitting no GHGs, in 2050.
In the meantime, the government will conduct consultations to set an intermediate target between 2030 and 2050.
In 2022, according to official estimates, 79 million tonnes of GHGs were emitted in Quebec, i.e. 1.8% more than the 77.6 million released into the atmosphere in 2021, and more than the forecasts mentioned by the government. last December.
This is a worrying rebound, considering that emissions are expected to decline steadily.
Since 2020, at the height of the pandemic, when 74 megatons were emitted into the atmosphere, polluting emissions have been increasing.
The objective of 37.5% reduction by 2030 seems to be moving away: we were at 8.9% reduction achieved between 1990 and 2021, and if we now consider the increase in emissions in 2022, we are at 7.1% of the way traveled.