In terms of achieving its green objectives, Quebec is still half in the dark. A year and a half after tabling its first plan to fight climate change, the government of François Legault has defined the measures that will allow it to meet 51% of its climate targets.
This is what emerges from the updated green plan tabled Thursday in Quebec by the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette. The measures that appear there will allow, if they are followed to the letter, to subtract 16 million tons of greenhouse gases from the Quebec total in 2030.
By tabling its first implementation plan for the Plan for a Green Economy (PEV), in November 2020, Quebec had identified the actions necessary to achieve 42% of its reduction objectives. The government of the Coalition avenir Québec has since advanced by nine percentage points. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 37.5% in 2030 compared to 1990 levels, it will have to do twice as much.
Thanks to additional investments of a billion dollars — unearthed using the carbon market and included in the last budget — the 2022-2027 implementation plan this time tackles the polluting emissions of the industry . Quebec devotes practically double the amounts provided for in its previous plan to this sector.
The government will therefore finance major emitters wishing to launch low-carbon projects by increasing its “EcoPerformance” envelope. It will also support them if they wish to electrify or obtain “equipment to reduce GHG emissions”.
Transport always at the forefront
Figured at $7.65 billion over five years, the updated green plan still pays half of its budget to transport. Quebec is also raising its target for the electrification of the vehicle fleet. In 2030, Mr. Charette wants to see 1.6 million zero-emission vehicles on the roads of Quebec.
The Minister of the Environment, who has always said he is unfavorable to “penalties”, did not include any additional tax in his 80-page document.
The five-year budget devoted to adaptation to climate change is also increasing slightly. It goes from about 384 million dollars in the last PEV to more or less 437 million.
In its report tabled in early March, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) raised a red flag over the inability of states to adapt to climate change.
Further details will follow.