Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled an updated national climate plan Friday that includes a $170-per-tonne carbon price in 2030, C$15 billion in new climate spending, a more modest Clean Fuel Standard, and a slight increase in the country’s 2030 carbon reduction goal—just barely enough to keep the government’s promise to boost its ambition beyond the 30% target originally adopted by the Stephen Harper government in 2015.
The plan commits to an eight-megatonne reduction in the 2030 target, from 511 to 503 Mt, enough to bring the percentage up from 30% to fractionally more than 31%. Ottawa projects a carbon reduction of 32 to 40% by 2030 if provincial governments get onboard with their own climate action plans.
Dale Beugin, research and analysis vice-president at the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices, greeted the announcement as a credible plan for the country to meet its climate targets. “Like many jurisdictions, Canada has often been accused of being long on climate rhetoric and short on policy to deliver,” he wrote. “This plan changes that. Environment and Climate Change Canada’s modelling shows that the multiple policy pieces in the Plan add up to emissions reductions in 2030 that actually exceed our current target.”
Dale Marshall, national climate program manager at Environmental Defence Canada, acknowledged the “more comprehensive suite of climate policies” and the “meaningful escalation” in the retail carbon price. But he warned that the $15 billion in new investment, “a small fraction of what other countries are doing on a per capita basis, clearly cannot get the job done. In fact, Canada should be investing $270 billion if it was following the level of ambition of the U.S. or EU.”
Marshall added that Ottawa “continues to ignore measures that would most effectively reduce Canada’s greatest sources of carbon emissions: the oil and gas sector, and road transportation. The steps to reduce these emissions are well known: no new oil and gas projects, a gradual phase out of fossil fuel production and use, action to increase the production of electric vehicles.”
The David Suzuki Foundation agreed that ambitious climate action means a halt to new fossil fuel production. “Climate action in Canada has been undermined by the oil and gas industry’s efforts to cancel or delay the most meaningful climate policies,” said Acting Executive Director Ian Bruce. “Yet Canadians say they want strong climate action. For this plan to succeed, Canada needs to hold firm and not give in to interests that don’t support meaningful climate action.”
Source: With $170/Tonne Carbon Price, $15B in New Spending, Canada’s 2030 Carbon Target Still Falls Far Short – The Energy Mix
