Traditional Land of Wabanaki People/Fredericton — Canadians are looking for climate solutions that are fair, effective, and affordable. Today’s release of the federal 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) makes important progress, but is not as fair, effective or affordable as it needs to be.
The federal ERP is the first under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act; progress reports are due in 2023, 2025, and 2027. These reports describe the path the Government of Canada is taking to reach net zero by 2050, including its 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target of 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels. Today’s ERP models a path to 36.4 per cent reductions, with subsequent updates needed to fill in the gap to 45 per cent and assess options for going further by 2030.
The ERP is less fair than it needs to be because the oil and gas sector, the country’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases (26 per cent of the total and fastest growing emitter at 20 per cent growth since 2005), will see its emissions capped at current levels and only needs to reduce emissions 31 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. This means other sectors like transportation and electricity will need to cut emissions more.
The ERP is less effective than it needs to be because it relies too heavily on heroic assumptions about carbon capture, hydrogen, liquefied natural gas, and nuclear technologies that are capital intensive, costly and financially and environmentally risky compared to renewable energy, storage and demand management investments that get us to our goal faster, more effectively, and at less cost.
The ERP is less affordable than it needs to be because it subsidizes the fossil fuel sector more than it should, taking away resources that are better invested in modernizing the electricity system, accelerating the shift from gasoline and diesel to electric transportation, and retrofitting buildings so households and small businesses pay less.
“Canada and the provinces need to focus on investments in energy efficiency and programs to get off oil, gasoline powered vehicles, and to bring non-polluting renewable energy to every community that wants it,” says Louise Comeau, Director of Climate Change and Energy Solutions. “The public knows what they want. They want electricity powered by the sun, wind and water. They want solutions they can afford.”
We have the expertise to retrofit homes and businesses so they use 30 to 50 per cent less energy than today. Shifting to an energy-efficient or electric vehicle can save drivers even more, compared to the average gasoline vehicle.
The ERP makes important progress on these fronts, announcing a regulated mandatory EV sales target of at least 20 per cent for 2026 and 60 per cent by 2030 to support the goal of 100 per cent of sales by 2035. Electric vehicles will achieve price parity with gasoline vehicles within the next five years, meaning governments can then redeploy incentives to other priority investments. There are additional ERP investments to support and expand building retrofit investments for business and households.
The ERP also commits to a Clean Electricity Standard, which if designed well, can drive the sector to zero emissions by 2035, while growing in size to power the transportation sector. CCNB welcomes the funding to support a Pan-Canadian Grid Council, smart renewables and electrification pathways, and regional strategic initiatives, all critically important to evolving Atlantic electrification and transmission, including the Atlantic Loop. New Brunswick and NB Power do little to consult citizens. CCNB is counting on federal processes to ensure open, transparent and effective consultations on the path forward on climate change.
To protect nature, the environment and future generations, we need federal and provincial climate plans to ensure that all sectors do their fair share, proportional to their ability to pay and their contribution to the problem. Every sector and every Canadian contributes to the pollution causing climate change, but not all at the same level. We need solutions that put fossil fuels behind us and that move our region, our country, and the world forward to a renewable, reliable and affordable future. That means the federal government should not approve any new fossil fuel projects, whether Bay du Nord, a deep-sea oil project off the Newfoundland coast, or liquefied natural gas projects in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
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To arrange an interview, contact: Louise Comeau, Director, Climate Change and Energy Program, Conservation Council of New Brunswick | louise.comeau@conservationcouncil.ca | 506-238-0355. Learn about CCNB’s Atlantic Electricity Vision.