National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy releases “Reality Check: The State of Climate Progress in Canada”

Today the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy released an important report on Canada’s greenhouse gas reductions commitments. The study tabulated all of the efforts of Canada’s provinces (not of all the Territories, however) as well as federal government plans, and found them to be lacking. The report is entitled, “Reality Check: The State of Climate Progress in Canada” and is available at http://nrtee-trnee.ca/reality-check-the-state-of-climate-progress-in-can...

Essential conclusions include the fact that Canada needs to begin to put a price on carbon (some provinces already have made tentative steps in this direction) and that most emission reductions will have to come from the oil and gas sector, followed by manufacturing, electricity generation, and transportation. The study attempts to price the various costs of meeting Canada’s stated target of 17% below 2005 levels by 2020. Right now, however, current measures will ensure Canada reaches less than 50% of that reductions goal.

Scott Vaughan, Canada’s Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, reported to Parliament on May 8. Vaughan said that the federal government has not complied with the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act, and will not meet its current target for greenhouse gas emission reductions by the year 2020. In fact, Environment Canada’s own forecast shows that in 2020, Canada’s emissions will be 7 percent above the 2005 level.

For more information on the effects of the federal budget Bill C-38 on Canada’s environment, please see CPJ’s recent web feature, Bill C-38: Implementing Environmental Neglect?