Liberals pledge ‘net-zero’ carbon emissions by 2050
Outgoing minister admits party’s promise depends on advances in future technology
The federal Liberals have promised, if elected, to make Canada a “net-zero” emitter of greenhouse gases 30 years from now.
“That means not putting any more carbon pollution into the air than we take out,” outgoing environment minister Catherine McKenna said Tuesday.
This is more ambitious than the plan signed in Paris four years ago, which requires us to reduce our emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
McKenna acknowledged there isn’t a roadmap of how to make the ambitious leap. She is counting on future technology advances, and compared the situation to the enormous leaps of cellphone technology in the past 20 years.
She also promised the Liberals would build the goal of eliminating net emissions into legislation with the requirement of meeting targets every five years.
There’s no plan yet on what would happen if targets are not met. Canada has consistently failed to meet all targets on climate-changing pollutants since signing our first commitment in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
She blamed this mostly on Conservatives, singling out Doug Ford and Andrew Scheer over and over throughout her speech.
“Unfortunately what has happened is that we are fighting Conservative politicians and premiers at every turn,” she said.
“Do we have all the details? No. But let’s be clear: We are saying we need to be net-zero by 2050, we’re saying we need experts to help show us the path to get there, that we need to make sure workers are part of the transition … and yes, that we need to legislate targets,” she said. She called it “ambitious and pragmatic.”
The 30-year time frame “reminds me of the promise of fusion energy, always being 30 years in the future over a period of 50 or 60 years,” said Tom Adams, a veteran energy analyst. “Some kind of symmetry between those concepts: Good intentions, but I’m kind of wondering about practicality.”
This week in New York, more than 60 multinational companies promised to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
“Today I’m happy to announce that a re-elected Liberal government would also take up this pledge, that we will also commit to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050,” she said.
“We have a huge opportunity. Do we know every single way we’re going to get there for 2050? No.”
She pointed to this year’s CHEO Dream Home, which is a net-zero building, meaning it produces at least as much energy as it uses. This shows wise use of energy can benefit the economy, she said.
Asked how she plans to reach the target, she cited the Clean Canada list of programs and investments the federal government has launched. These include money for public transit, renewable energy, phasing out coal and carbon taxes. This approach is the backbone of the former Liberal government’s promise to meet commitment it signed in Paris four years ago.
At last measure (2017), Canada was emitting 716 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year into the air. Carbon dioxide traps heat from the sun instead of letting it escape back into space.
The obstacles to cleaning up our greenhouse emissions are enormous.
An analysis by the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Conference Board of Canada said the required infrastructure changes would cost trillions of dollars.
And the University of Ottawa’s Positive Energy initiative warns that “political peace and progress on public confidence, energy and climate are shattering ” in Canada. It highlighted federal and provincial governments pushing in different directions, sometimes in court challenges.
“More generally, growing levels of political and economic uncertainty, partisanship, parochialism and polarization both at home and abroad are creating an increasingly challenging environment for public authorities charting Canada’s energy future,” it reported this year.
And it warns against “dangerous optimism” — the habit of underestimating how hard the task of greening our economy will be.