Ottawa's $8B climate fund failing to attract largest emitters, watchdog says
One of the biggest govern‐ ment initiatives to encour‐ age manufacturers to de‐ carbonize is failing to at‐ tract the largest emitters, says Ottawa's environmen‐ tal watchdog.
The government's $8 bil‐ lion program, intended to help the largest-emitting manufacturing industries re‐ duce their emissions, has failed to entice them, says a report released Tuesday morning by Jerry DeMarco, the federal commissioner of environment and sustainable development.
Of Canada's top 55 emit‐ ters, only two have signed contribution agreements so far with the federal govern‐ ment under its Net Zero Ac‐ celerator initiative, the report says. About a dozen other large emitters applied for the initiative but the federal gov‐ ernment has not yet signed agreements with them.
"For the companies apply‐ ing for funding, the audit found the application pro‐ cess to be very lengthy and complex," a news release from the environment com‐ missioner stated.
"The companies reported spending an average of 407 hours to complete their ap‐ plications, and the depart‐ ment took an average of 20 months to get a contribution agreement finalized and signed."
The report did not name the companies, but firms in the steel, aluminum and chemical industries have ap‐ plied for this federal govern‐ ment program.
The Net Zero Accelerator fund is an Innovation, Sci‐ ence and Economic Develop‐ ment initiative designed to work with industry to help Canada achieve its 2030 cli‐ mate targets.
Among other shortcom‐ ings, the audit found that the multibillion-dollar low-carbon fund "did not track the … overall value for money in re‐ ducing greenhouse gas emis‐ sions."
The report also found is‐ sues with accounting for greenhouse emissions reduc‐ tions and a lack of adherence to greenhouse gas reporting standards.
The Liberal government called the report helpful and said that work is underway to
implement its recommenda‐ tions.
The parliamentary secre‐ tary to the environment min‐ ister, Adam van Koeverden, said the program has helped steel companies like Hamil‐ ton's ArcelorMittal Dofasco reduce greenhouse gas emis‐ sions.
The company received $400 million to transition to electric arc furnaces, which use scrap metal, electricity and natural gas to make steel instead of coal and iron ore.
Algoma Steel also re‐ ceived $420 million for a sim‐ ilar project in Sault Ste. Mar‐ ie, Ont.
"Developing steel greener and cleaner and with a lower carbon footprint is an essen‐ tial part of ensuring that we are fighting climate change and reducing emissions right across various sectors and in‐ dustries," said van Ko‐ everden.
DeMarco also released four other reports. They found Ottawa had not devel‐ oped a strategy for the agri‐ culture sector to contribute to Canada's 2030 and 2050 climate targets.
No plan to tackle agri‐ culture emissions: audit
The agriculture sector ac‐ counts for 10 per cent of Canada's emissions, the au‐ dit says, and its emissions have been increasing since 1990. But the government hasn't come up with a plan to help sector reduce its carbon footprint and contribute to the country's climate goals.
While Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has launched programs, funding delays have resulted "in re‐ cipients missing a growing season," says a news release from the commissioner.
"The department has so far achieved less than 2 per cent of its 2030 overall green‐ house gas reduction target," it said.
The Liberal government said Tuesday that it is devel‐ oping an agriculture strategy but didn't say when it would deliver.
The commissioner also concluded that Ottawa was moving too slowly to adopt low-carbon construction ma‐ terials, particularly steel and concrete.
The audit notes that the federal government, as one of the country's largest buy‐ ers, has hoped to use its pur‐ chasing power to buy build‐ ing materials with a lower carbon footprint for almost two decades. That could happen directly through the construction of federal projects or through funding public or private infrastruc‐ ture projects.
But years after signalling its commitment to greener construction, the audit re‐ ports that Ottawa has estab‐ lished standards only for ready-mix concrete.
"This slow pace of change is concerning because steel production typically emits high amounts of greenhouse gases and is widely used in major construction projects," said DeMarco in a media statement.
Praise for tackling plas‐ tic pollution
Environment and Climate Change Canada received some high marks for its ac‐ tions on tackling plastic waste.
Ottawa has set a target of achieving zero plastic waste by 2030 by creating a system where no plastic ends up in landfills. Instead, plastic items are to be reduced, re‐ paired/reused, recycled or re‐ manufactured.
The audit found that most of the projects to eliminate plastic waste have begun achieving results and meet‐ ing targets.
But the audit found it was not clear whether the gov‐ ernment was achieving its ul‐ timate goal of eliminating all plastic waste by 2030. The audit found a three-year de‐ lay in collecting and reporting data, or missing data on what happens to plastic waste.