Canada lays out C$9.1 bln roadmap to meet 2030 climate targets (updated)

TAG Oil

29/03/2022 16:35

(Updates Trudeau quote, adds details on ZEV mandates)
    By Nia Williams and Ismail Shakil
    March 29 (Reuters) - Canada released its first real roadmap
to meeting 2030 climate targets on Tuesday, laying out detailed
plans and C$9.1 billion  ($7.3 billion) in new spending to cut
planet-warming carbon emissions after years failing to meet its
goals.
    The Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) is the first time Canada
has had a comprehensive plan, rather than just a collection of
policies, setting out how it will meet its international
commitment to cut carbon emissions 40-45% below 2005 levels by
2030.    
    Environmental think tanks called it a "watershed moment" for
Canadian climate policy, but warned Liberal Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau's government needed to follow through.
    "A plan is just a plan without action. Expedited
implementation will be key to success, and Canada now needs to
shift into high gear," said Rick Smith, president of the
Canadian Climate Institute.
    Canada has missed every emissions reduction target it has
ever set but Trudeau said fighting climate change was one of his
government's top priorities during last year's election
campaign, and a recent deal with the opposition New Democrats
should ensure the passage of climate legislation for the next
three years.
    Key measures include a zero-emissions vehicle mandate that
is more ambitious than anything proposed by Canada's neighbor
the United States, and a target for reducing emissions from the
oil and gas sector 42% below current levels by 2030. Factbox of
key measures:  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2VW1UQ
    The ERP was introduced under the requirements of Canada's
Net-Zero Accountability Act, which the government adopted last
summer in a bid to produce more binding climate policies.
    The country is the world's fourth largest oil producer and
10th largest carbon emitter. The oil and gas industry is its
highest polluting industry, followed by transportation. 
    Greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector have
risen for the last two decades, meaning the 42% cut from current
levels will only amount to a 31% cut from 2005 levels.    
    That lower target for the oil and gas sector means other
parts of the economy will have to make deeper emissions cuts if
Canada is to hit its overall 40-45% reduction goal, said Simon
Dyer, deputy executive director of the Pembina Institute.
    "We believe the oil and gas sector has the ability to do
more, and do its fair share," Dyer said.    
    Trudeau said the emissions targets had to be realisable as
well as ambitious and the electricity sector, for example, would
be making much bigger cuts.
    "Different sectors have different expectations...Canadians
have had far too long of targets that have been set, but not
achieved," Trudeau told a news conference in Vancouver.
    The ERP set an interim goal of cutting planet warming carbon
emissions 20% below 2005 levels by 2026. While not an official
target like the 2030 objective, the 2026 goal will be a major
measure of whether Canada is on track.
    The government is also introducing a mandate that 60% of
light-duty vehicles sold in 2030 must be zero-emissions, rising
to 100% by 2035.
    Those targets put Canada "among the pack of leading
jurisdictions" in terms of zero-emission vehicle mandates, said
Merran Smith, executive director of Clean Energy Canada.
    In the United States, the Biden administration so far has
declined to set a firm deadline for phasing out sales of
combustion vehicles. Instead, President Joe Biden has set a
target for 50% of new cars and light trucks sold in the United
States to be electric by 2030. 
($1 = 1.2494 Canadian dollars)

 (Editing by Alistair Bell)
 ((ismail.shakil@tr.com; ; Tweet @ismail___s;))