Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says Canada is committed to meeting its climate change targets despite a growing gap between promises and emissions projections.
鈥淲e鈥檙e absolutely committed to meeting our target,鈥� McKenna, in Edmonton for an international conference on cities and climate change, told The Canadian Press.
鈥淲e鈥檙e all in.鈥�
In 2015, Canada鈥檚 total greenhouse gas emissions were 722 megatonnes annually of carbon dioxide equivalent. The Paris climate accord commits the country to reducing that total to 517 megatonnes by 2030.
In December, the government delivered a report to the United Nations outlining progress on reaching that target. The report acknowledged that both current and planned policies are likely to leave the country 66 megatonnes short of its target.
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That figure is 50 per cent higher than a similar report made to the UN 18 months ago.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good-news, bad-news story,鈥� said McKenna.
鈥淥ur economy is growing and our projections are based on our economic growth. It just means that we need to be doing more. There鈥檚 huge opportunities that we haven鈥檛 built into our target.鈥�
McKenna said Canada has plenty of time to catch up to where it鈥檚 supposed to be.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a 2030 target,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e said this is a transition and you don鈥檛 transition overnight.鈥�
Billions of dollars marked for public transportation in the last federal budgets will help, she said.
New technologies for carbon-heavy industries such as cement manufacturing are expected to cut greenhouse gas emissions and aren鈥檛 yet figured into the projection. The federal government is also counting on reforestation to reduce Canada鈥檚 carbon footprint, because growing trees pull carbon out of the atmosphere and store it in forests.
鈥淲e need to figure out the opportunities. We know that they鈥檙e huge.鈥�
Environment Canada officials have attributed the 22-megatonne increase between the two UN reports to a growing population and increased output from Canada鈥檚 oil and gas industry. The proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion, approved by the federal Liberals to take hydrocarbons from Alberta鈥檚 oilsands to the British Columbia coast, is widely expected to increase associated emissions.
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McKenna said that has been taken into account.
鈥淭he approval of (the Kinder Morgan pipeline) was made in the context of our climate plan,鈥� she said.
The minister pointed out that Alberta has capped emissions from the oilsands and implemented a carbon tax. Ottawa will bring in its own climate levy, she said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e doing a lot. There鈥檚 coherence across the board.鈥�
A department official pointed out that a 22-megatonne change in the overall context of Canada鈥檚 total emissions could simply be the result of annual changes in the economy or in how things are measured.
As well, cities and provinces haven鈥檛 yet outlined their plans for investments in transit or reforestation clearly enough for Ottawa to estimate their greenhouse gas impacts, the official said.
Bob Weber, The Canadian Press
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