Photo: flickr, Ministry of Natural Resources - Rwanda
MARRAKECH — Erin Flanagan, federal policy director at the Pembina Institute, made the following statement in response to the release of Canada’s mid-century climate strategy:
“We’re pleased to see Canada outline pathways to achieve deep emissions cuts by 2050 – a core requirement of the Paris Agreement, and something that Canada has not, until today, directly grappled with.
“Modelling of this nature illustrates the scale of ambition required to decarbonize Canada’s economy. The development of a long-term pathway to reduce emissions beyond Canada’s 2030 target is an essential step for the country, and will be an important input to federal, provincial and territorial planning processes.
“It is clear that significant new policy measures – including strengthened carbon prices and sector-specific regulations – are required to propel Canada’s shift away from fossil fuels and towards a low-carbon economy. We look forward to progress on this front at the first ministers’ meeting in Ottawa later this year. In particular, we encourage the federal government to commit to an accelerated phase-out of coal-fired power, to outline its plan to support energy efficiency across the economy, and to implement regulations to achieve its commitment of a 45 per cent reduction in oil and gas methane emissions by 2025.
“To bring force to this climate strategy, we encourage the federal government to outline how it will link the emerging pan-Canadian plan to its longer-term vision for deep decarbonization. We expect federal, provincial and territorial leaders to detail the steps they will take to ensure effective implementation of existing climate commitments, and to create a forum through which they increase Canada’s climate ambition over time.”
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Contact
Media contact in Marrakech:
Erin Flanagan
Director, Federal Policy
+1-587-581-1701
Media contact in Canada:
Kelly O'Connor
Communications Lead
416-220-8804
Background
Submission: Building a pan-Canadian climate plan (June 2016)
Report: Race to the front (September 2016)
Blog: Success of the Paris Agreement will be measured by policy progress here at home (December 2015)