OTTAWA – The long-awaited Emissions Reduction Plan released today by Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault is yet more proof that the federal government has not grasped the dimensions of the climate emergency nor the extent of motion required to preserve a livable world, said Green Party interim Leader Amita Kuttner.
“We proceed to demand a program of transformation that adheres to what the science tells us,” said Dr. Kuttner. “We’re in a climate crisis and we’d like to start out acting prefer it. Preserving a livable world is an emergency requiring that we put aside incrementalism. We’d like latest structures, latest pondering and heroic motion.”
Green Party parliamentary leader Elizabeth May (MP, Saanich-Gulf Islands) said: “We see many good programs on this plan but the truth is inescapable – this plan will fail by design since it focuses on the goal of net zero by 2050. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has made it clear that for net zero by 2050 to depart us a livable climate, emissions should be way more deeply cut by 2030.
“Making net zero by 2050 the one focus, ignoring the IPCC advice that the window on 1.5 degrees is closing rapidly, is dangerous. Canada is the one country on the planet expressing our 2030 goal as a spread – a weak 40-45 per cent below 2005 by 2030. It is evident from today’s release that the actual goal is 40 per cent. Even when Canada meets that concentrate on, we can have did not do our part to carry to not more than 1.5 degrees global average temperature increase.”
Mike Morrice (MP, Kitchener Centre) noted: “At COP26 in Glasgow we heard a transparent message that holding to 1.5 degrees is a large challenge. We cannot coast to 2025 on our current levels of ambition and have any hope of keeping 1.5 alive.
“We agree that it’s progress to have modeling resulting in a sector by sector evaluation, but that road map is to the improper destination and not one of the sectoral GHG emission goals are enforceable,” added Mr. Morrice.
“The table was set for disappointment,” said Dr. Kuttner. “The plan stems from laws – the Canadian Net Zero Emissions Accountability Act – that ignores proven best practices from such laws around the globe.”
Within the climate laws of other nations, the primary milestone 12 months has been five years from the law’s passage. The UK act stays a world leader, with targets every five years since 2013 and governments from different parties meeting the targets. The UK’s GHG emissions are actually 48 percent below 1990 levels, while Canada stays 20 percent above 1990.
“Canada’s accountability mechanism is weak,” said Dr. Kuttner. “If the 2030 goal is missed, the minister merely has to elucidate why.”
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