The Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, is “disappointed” with the agreement that emerged from the United Nations climate conference (COP28). Quebec campaigned for an exit from fossil fuels, it will be entitled to a “transition”.
“We are going to reduce our use of fossil fuels without giving ourselves a precise withdrawal timetable. SO, [c’est] the disappointing part,” said the Quebec elected official on Wednesday, a few hours after the parties meeting in Dubai concluded a new environmental pact.
The agreement concluded after two weeks of work, provides for a “transition” towards the abandonment of fossil fuels everywhere on the planet, in order to limit global warming to 1.5ºC. He initially pleaded for a “reduction” in the use of these pollutants, but was hardened under pressure from a hundred states like Quebec and the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres.
“We were campaigning for a “phasing out”. Rather, we have a “phasing down”, noted Minister Charette in the press scrum on Wednesday, in the minutes preceding a meeting of the Council of Ministers. “We would have liked a text that was perhaps a little stronger, perhaps a little more restrictive. »
The elected official from the Coalition Avenir Québec maintains that it will be “impossible” to achieve the targets for reducing greenhouse gases (GHG), then carbon neutrality, without moving away from hydrocarbons. He is nevertheless delighted that the final declaration of the COP contains references to fossil fuels and the “need to reduce our use of these energies”.
“There is some good. […] It was the 28e COP. This means that we have been trying to have this inclusion in a final declaration for 28 years without succeeding. This time we succeeded,” he said. “I’m going to be optimistic for next year’s declaration that it will be even more binding. »
In Quebec, the government has planned to reduce GHG emissions by 9.5 megatons in CO equivalent by 2030.2 in transport, more than 5 megatons in the industrial sector and 2.3 megatons in buildings. In 2022, it officially ended oil exploration on its territory.
Quebec is committed to having reduced its emissions by 37.5% in 2030 compared to 1990 levels. It is aiming for “carbon neutrality” in 2050.