{"id":289235,"date":"2015-06-01T19:13:09","date_gmt":"2015-06-01T23:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.riverbendadvisors.com\/blog\/?p=289235"},"modified":"2018-01-03T12:01:03","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T17:01:03","slug":"canada-announces-greenhouse-gas-emissions-reductions-target-of-30-percent-by-2030","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.riverbendadvisors.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/canada-announces-greenhouse-gas-emissions-reductions-target-of-30-percent-by-2030\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada Announces Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions Target Of 30 Percent By 2030"},"content":{"rendered":"

As reported in Climate Progress<\/a> on 5\/15\/15
\n
Author: Joe Romm<\/span><\/p>\n

Canada announced Friday that it was committing to a goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent compared to 2005 levels by 2030, an announcement that comes in the lead-up to the United Nations’ international climate talks at the end of this year.<\/p>\n

Under the new commitment, Canada will cut its emissions down to 515 metric megatons by 2030, Bloomberg reports<\/a>. In 2013, the country’s emissions totaled 726 metric megatons<\/a>, and in 2005 \u2014 the baseline year Canada uses in its new commitment \u2014 its emissions totaled 731 metric megatons<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In addition, Canada announced Friday<\/a> its \u201cintention to develop new regulatory measures\u201d for the oil, gas, and chemical industries. Though the country didn’t make any firm commitments in its oil and gas sector, it said it intended to develop regulations \u201caligned with recently proposed actions in the United States to reduce the potent GHG methane from the oil-and-gas sector,\u201d along with regulations for natural gas-fired electricity. <\/p>\n

Canada’s Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq called the commitment<\/a> \u201cfair and ambitious,\u201d and said that it and the intended regulations \u201cunderscore our continued commitment to cut emissions at home and work with our international partners to establish an international agreement in Paris that includes meaningful and transparent commitments from all major emitters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Capture\"<\/p>\n

CREDIT: government of Canada<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Some environmental groups, however, weren’t so happy about the announcement. Though Canada’s pledge included plans to start implementing new regulations on its oil and gas industry, groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council said they wished the country had made a more concrete commitment to addressing emissions from the tar sands \u2014 the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, according to the Pembina Institute<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cCanada’s climate target is less-than-meets-the-eye and another disappointing sign of its reluctance to fight climate change,\u201d Danielle Droitsch, Canada project director at the NRDC, said in a statement. \u201cYet again, Canada blithely ignores addressing its largest source of climate pollution\u2014its tar sands oil development.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NRDC also called Canada’s commitment \u201csignificantly weaker\u201d than that of the United States. The U.S. made a commitment<\/a> earlier this year to reduce its emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. Historically, Canada’s pledges have lined up with the United States’, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper said<\/a> earlier this year that it was \u201cunlikely\u201d that Canada’s targets would be the same as the United States’. <\/p>\n

The NRDC noted that Canada’s pledges were also concerning because, as of now, the country isn’t on track<\/a> to meet its 2020 emissions reductions targets. Last year, a report found<\/a> that without significant new policies, Canada wouldn’t meet its Copenhagen Accord target to reduce its emissions 17 percent by 2020, compared to 2005 levels. <\/p>\n

Climate activist group 350.org told RTCC<\/a> that, if Canada’s government doesn’t scale back on its tar sands development immediately, it wouldn’t be able to meet its new emissions reductions goals. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese targets are a nice gesture, but for now that’s all they are, because the numbers here simply don’t add up,\u201d Canadian spokesman for 350.org Cameron Fenton said<\/a>. \u201cScientists have told us over and over that averting climate disaster means leaving virtually all tar sands in the ground; and until our government starts taking real steps to achieve that, these announcements are little more than pie-in-the-sky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Harper has come under fire<\/a> during his eight years in office for his pro-tar sands and anti-environmental policies. According to a report from earlier this year, Canada could get<\/a> 100 percent of its electricity from low-carbon sources like wind, solar, and hydropower by 2035 and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. But that’s only if the federal government takes strong action on climate change, and if Harper’s past policies are a guide, that isn’t likely in the near future. <\/p>\n

Canada does have a federal election coming up in October, however, so the prospect of federal action on climate change could soon change. And the recent election<\/a> of a left-wing government in Alberta could mean more regulations on the tar sands industry in the province.<\/p>\n

The post Canada Announces Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions Target Of 30 Percent By 2030<\/a> appeared first on ThinkProgress<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From:: Climate Progress<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As reported in Climate Progress on 5\/15\/15 Author: Joe Romm Canada announced Friday that it was committing to a goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent compared to 2005 levels by 2030, an announcement that comes in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-289235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-change-2","","tg-column-two"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.riverbendadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.riverbendadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.riverbendadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.riverbendadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.riverbendadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289235"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.riverbendadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":306416,"href":"https:\/\/www.riverbendadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289235\/revisions\/306416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.riverbendadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.riverbendadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.riverbendadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}