McQueen insists ‘we will meet’ emissions target
Alberta’s new climate change minister insists the province will meet its 2020 target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, despite previous admissions from the Tory government that the goal is unreachable under current policies.
Speaking Friday at a joint announcement with the World Bank about reducing natural gas flaring, Diana McQueen said she’s committed to Alberta’s target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 megatonnes per year by 2020.
“I have a mandate from the premier to meet those reduction targets and we’re doing it with our stakeholders in consultation with them, making sure that we continue to have a strong economy while meeting the 2020 targets — and we will meet those,” McQueen told reporters.
McQueen’s comments drew surprise and confusion from environmental groups and members of the opposition, who say the repeated delay of a revamped climate change strategy shows the government is “nowhere close” to reaching their emissions reductions targets.
“What is she basing this on?” Liberal MLA and environment critic Laurie Blakeman said. “I would like to give her credit for being hopeful, but I really need to give her credit for writing a new children’s fantasy book.”
The province’s beleaguered 2008 climate change strategy has long been a source of controversy for the Tory government. It initially laid out three priorities for reducing emissions: conserving energy, implementing carbon capture and storage, and making energy production greener.
“There are definitely available reductions that are out there and it is possible for us to actually meet our reduction target,” said Andrew Reid, a technical and policy analyst with the Pembina Institute.
“However, with the current policy, as it’s outlined, the current policy is that we will not meet that.”
In 2013, Alberta Environment deputy minister Dana Woodworth told the public accounts legislative committee the province was not on the “right trajectory” to meet its 2020 target.
Last summer, the auditor general report found no evidence that Alberta’s Environment Department monitored performance against strategy between 2008 and 2012.
According to Alberta Environment’s website, the province has so far reduced its emissions by a cumulative 50.7 megatonnes over 6.5 years, averaging less than eight megatonnes a year.