Smith and Schulz to promote Alberta’s climate and energy leadership

Premier Danielle Smith and Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz will be promoting Alberta’s leadership in emission reductions and responsible energy development in the Middle East.

Premier Smith and Minister Schulz will travel to Dubai for the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (COP28). While at the world’s largest annual climate summit, government officials say Alberta’s Premier and environment minister will showcase Alberta’s effective, common-sense and innovative approach to reducing emissions while keeping energy reliable, secure and affordable.

“We will use COP28 to showcase the amazing work that is underway to reduce emissions while keeping energy affordable, reliable and secure,” adds Rebecca Schulz, Minister of Environment and Protected Areas. “We look forward to promoting Alberta’s plan to reduce emissions, highlighting our legacy of environmental leadership and responsible energy development, and demonstrating Alberta’s important role in the global energy transition.”

At COP28, Premier Smith and Minister Schulz will participate in panels, speaking events and discussions with heads of state, ministers, municipalities, civil society representatives and chief executives from around the world about global issues like greenhouse gas emissions, CCUS, hydrogen, technology and innovation.

I’m not sure how she is championing emissions reduction in Alberta. In 2020, Alberta’s emissions per capita https://www.cer-rec.gc.ca/en/data-analysis/energy-markets/provincial-territorial-energy-profiles/provincial-territorial-energy-profiles-alberta.html are the second highest in Canada at 58.02 tonnes CO2e – three times the national average of 17.68 tonnes per capita. We’ve been increasing every year and have now shiut down any new green, sustainable enegry projects |Read more https://rdnewsnow.com/2023/11/28/smith-and-schulz-to-promote-albertas-climate-and-energy-leadership/ | rdnewsnow.com/2023/11/28/smith…

#abpoli #COP28 #emissions #reduction #environment #leadership #ucp #smith #schulz

Alberta uses Sovereignty Act for 1st time. What happens now?

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she’s using the province’s Sovereignty Act for the first time to challenge Ottawa’s requirements to have a net-zero electricity grid by 2035.

Smith said she wanted to invoke the act to send a message that her government is serious about pushing back against Ottawa’s plan to green Canada’s electricity grid by 2035, a plan she says could wreak havoc on Alberta’s natural gas-based grid.

“We’re creating an opportunity for the federal government to do the right thing and back down,” Smith told reporters.

What is the Sovereignty Act?

The legislation says it gives Alberta the “legal framework to push back on federal laws or policies that negatively impact the province,” and it’s to be used when federal legislation or policy is used in a way that’s “unconstitutional.”

The first step of using it is that the Alberta legislature must debate and adopt a motion that calls a piece of federal legislation “unconstitutional” or deems that it harms Albertans.

Duane Bratt, a political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, says this first step is the easy part.

“That’ll pass. The UCP has a majority government. They may even get some NDP on side to vote in favour of that,” he said prior to the motion being introduced. “The devil is going to be in the details: how do you draft up an action plan to deal with something that hasn’t happened?”

The Sovereignty Act is being used to oppose Ottawa’s Clean Electricity Regulations, which call for all electricity generation to be carbon neutral by 2035. |Read more https://globalnews.ca/news/10118754/opposition-ndp-first-nation-chief-want-public-review-alberta-energy-regulator/ | globalnews.ca/news/10118754/op…

#abpoli #SovereigntyAct #ucp #framework #electricity #grid #unconstitutional