Prime Minister Mark Carney did not say on Monday if Canada will meet its climatic objectives under the Paris Agreement by 2030, since its government faces criticism for its emission reduction plans.
Carney, who was in St. John’s on Monday announcing tariff help measures for the companies of the Atlantic of Canada, the journalists asked how Canada plans to adjust their climate change goals, after the recent policy ads marked some of the climatic initiatives of the Trudeau government.
On his first day in office in March, Carney eliminated the price of consumer carbon. Friday delayed the mandate of the electric vehicle for at least one year. Carney has said that he plans to strengthen the industrial carbon pricing system, but that he still has to explain how.
Carney did not answer directly to the question about Canada’s climatic objectives and, on the other hand, turned to the competitive advantages of a low carbon economy.
“We see that it becomes a low carbon in any industry as a key driver of competitiveness,” said Carney, adding that he would have more to share in the coming weeks.
“Therefore, that approach to what we can do to reduce emissions in a way that makes the country more competitive is crucial.”
He pointed out oil and gas on the high seas as a low carbon alternative to conventional extraction and suggested that the impulse of his government to fold the construction of homes during the next decade will lead to more efficient houses in energy.
“And all that will reduce our emissions and make us more competitive. So that is the focus of the government,” said Carney, without addressing how those lowest emissions would be compared to Canada’s objectives.
“The government focuses on the results.”
Net-Cero for 2050
Canada has a legal requirement to achieve net-zero by 2050 after legislating it in 2021. Part of its path to get there is a plan to reduce emissions by 40 percent below the levels of 2005 by 2030, a commitment established in the Paris Agreement.
But while the government has not yet said if it will miss its objective, or if you are still trying to achieve it, the observers have raised doubts.
A report last year of the Federal Environment Commissioner said that Canada was not on its way to meet its 2030 objective. Jerry Demarco estimated that Canada’s emissions had only fallen seven percent below the 2005 levels.
The Minister of the Industry, Mélanie Joly, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the 2050 climatic objectives and her support for EV manufacturers, despite a decrease in purchases. Speaking in Montreal on Monday, Joly said that the decision not to renew EV subsidies earlier this year led to a drop in purchases in Canada from 19 percent to 8 percent.
On Friday, after Carney delayed the implementation of the mandate of electric vehicles in a year to give Canada’s car manufacturers for a certain liquidity, the leader of the Green Party, Elizabeth May, May questioned her climatic intentions.
“The first hundred days of Carney show us clearly that it is going back to climate action at each step. Discarding the price of carbon, dismantling the legislation, canceling the mandate of EV, these are not the decisions of a seriously leader about the climatic emergency,” he said in a statement.
The Minister of the Industry, Mélanie Joly, also avoided a question on Monday about whether the government is committed to its 2030 objective, applauding instead of the Minister of Environment, Julie Dabrusin to comment.
“We want to make sure to find ways of being net-zero by 2050,” said Joly.
