After rising again in 2021, Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will return to a downward trend, predicts the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, an assertion that Greenpeace Canada doubts, however. .
In an interview from Sapporo, Japan, Steven Guilbeault reacted on Sunday to the publication of the most recent National inventory report by Ottawa last Friday1.
According to the latter, GHG emissions have increased by 1.8% in the country compared to 2020 – an increase mainly attributable to the transportation sector and the oil and gas extraction sector.
However, according to Steven Guilbeault, it is above all a correction compared to the pandemic period when Canada’s economy was idling.
Describing 2020 as an “anomaly”, the Minister prefers to take 2019 as a reference, the last full year exempt from any health measures, and notes that Canada has recorded a reduction of 53 megatonnes (Mt) in its GHG emissions in comparison, i.e. more than half of the annual GHGs emitted in Quebec.
KYODO PHOTO, SUPPLIED BY REUTERS
Steven Guilbeault (second from right) flanked by ministers and international delegates in Sapporo, Japan on Saturday
“In 2021, compared to 2019, we are really on a trend where our emissions are decreasing,” he said, advancing with “his crystal ball” that 2022 would be anchored in the same trend. “What you see when you really scratch that inventory report is that the electricity sector is accelerating its decarbonization at high speed.”
But “clearly, in the oil and gas sector, this is where the bulk of the effort must be made”, he nuances.
A full rebound?
In charge of Greenpeace Canada’s Climate-Energy campaign, Patrick Bonin doubts, however, Minister Guilbeault’s assertions that GHG emissions will decrease in Canada “in the short term”.
“We saw a rebound in 2021 and I doubt that this rebound will be complete because in 2021, we still had periods of confinement, a pandemic rhythm of life which slowed down the economy”, he explains.
Patrick Bonin takes as an example the oil and gas sector, which has not reduced its emissions drastically, and that of transport, where the arrival of electric vehicles is being done in dribs and drabs. “I’m going to believe it when I see it,” he summarizes in relation to a possible drop in GHG emissions in the National inventory report that Ottawa will publish next year.
A door ajar for natural gas
Internationally, the G7 countries failed to commit to a coal phase-out date in the electricity sector in particular, while Canada pushed to convince them to adopt the 2030. “We haven’t quite achieved that goal,” commented Steven Guilbeault.
The G7 therefore recognised, like last year, that investments in natural gas “could be appropriate” to help certain countries get through the current energy crisis, while insisting on the importance of a transition “clean” energy and the need to reduce the demand for gas.
What we say is that we don’t close the door completely [au gaz naturel]but it has to be done in a very specific context.
Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change
In the end, the latter paints a mixed picture of this meeting with his counterparts in Sapporo. “Is that enough? No, it’s not enough. The latest IPCC report reminds us how much we must step up the pace”, he insists.
“There is still a long way to go for national actions to align with the words of the G7, particularly on the energy transition, as many countries have recently approved new oil and gas infrastructure projects” , reacted the director of Climate Action Network Canada, Caroline Brouillette
The end of plastic pollution
Regarding plastic pollution, the G7 countries have promised to reduce it to zero by 2040, thanks in particular to the circular economy and the reduction or abandonment of disposable and non-recyclable plastics.
In this regard, Canada has great hopes in the “legally binding” international agreement that could be signed by the end of 2024, following negotiations undertaken within the framework of the general assembly of the United Nations for the Environment in February 2022.
Four negotiation sessions will be necessary to achieve this, says Steven Guilbeault, who would like to see one of them held in Canada.
Moreover, this commitment does not move Patrick Bonin, of Greenpeace Canada, who recalls that Canada was already aiming for 2030 to eliminate plastic pollution.
“You have to close the tap at the source, and for that, it takes a lot more filling and reuse objectives. The G7, which is aiming for 2040, is a step back from the UN objectives for sustainable development,” he explains.
With Agence France-Presse