From transformational change at NB’s public utility to holding the province accountable on climate action, it was a busy week for the Conservation Council of New Brunswick’s climate team.
It started on Monday when NB Power announced its president and CEO, Keith Cronkhite, was stepping down as part of its board of directors’ bold new vision for the utility.
“As we look to the future we are facing unprecedented challenges,” NB Power board chair Charles Firlotte said in a news release, citing a global energy crisis, fossil fuel phase outs, and “a need to support New Brunswickers with the rapid adoption of greener energy solutions.
“The board has concluded we must embark on a significant transformation of the organization,” Firlotte said.
That was welcome news for the Conservation Council’s Dr. Louise Comeau. Comeau told reporters it’s high time the public utility shift from its old-fashioned operations to deliver the modern electricity system New Brunswickers are asking for, built on affordable, reliable and sustainable renewable energy, efficiency and storage technologies.
Watch Comeau on CBC New Brunswick’s Evening News here (clip starts at 5-minute mark). Read Comeau’s commentary in: CBC New Brunswick’s web story, Global New Brunswick (July 4), Global New Brunswick (July 5), Acadie Nouvelle and CTV Atlantic (web story here, video here).
The next day, Comeau appeared on CBC’s Shift NB to break down the province’s final progress report for the Climate Change Action Plan.
In the report released Tuesday, July 5, the province said it had completed 76 per cent of the 118 action items in the plan, and also claimed to be leading the country in greenhouse gas emission reductions.
While noting its true that emissions are down a nation-leading 37 per cent in New Brunswick, the province is being disingenuous in calling itself a national leader since the majority of those reductions did not come from its climate action initiatives.
“The reductions that we’ve seen in the province have primarily come from industrial dislocation, if you will—the shutdown of plants, coal plants and pulp and paper mills. Well over 60 per cent of our reductions have come from that,” Comeau told Shift NB.
Comeau said the province has made good progress on energy efficiency initiatives and burning less coal and oil, but said the heaviest lifting on emissions reductions is yet to come.
“The future is actually going to be where the hard work really starts,” she said. “What we want is emissions reductions to come from the driving force of a plan that gets greenhouse gas reductions while we’re creating economic health and prosperity in the province.”
Listen to Comeau’s full interview here.