Electric cars, oil and gas industry the focus of Liberals' plan to cut carbon emissions by 40%

VANCOUVER -

The Prime Minister was in Vancouver on Tuesday morning, speaking at the Globe Forum sustainability concert downtown.

He took the opportunity to unveil the Liberals’ new Emissions Reduction Plan, which includes cutting carbon emissions in the oil and gas sector while quickly phasing out gas-powered personal vehicles.

"It’s ambitious and it’s achievable," said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday, the plan uses economic and emissions modelling to gauge the most affordable and feasible projects when it comes to Canada's target to cut emissions by 2030 to no more than 60 per cent of what they were in 2005.

The most recent emissions inventory is from 2019. It shows that Canada produced 730 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide.

Canada needs to get to between 407 million tonnes and 443 million tonnes to hit the current target.

"It cannot be business as usual when devastating floods wash out highways and farms," said Trudeau. "It can’t be business as usual when communities are destroyed by wildfires."

To reach the emissions targets, the federal government is relying in part on zero emission vehicles (ZEV). By 2026, one out of every five new cars sold will be electric, said Trudeau. By 2030, he expects roughly two thirds of new cars sold to be ZEV's.

“And by 2035, every single new personal car sold in Canada will be zero emissions,” he said.

The emissions plan suggests Canada’s oil and gas sector will need to cut its emissions by 42 per cent for the plan to work.

The oil and gas sector makes up the biggest share of Canada's carbon footprint, with 26 per cent of total emissions. Oil and gas emissions are up 20 per cent since 2005.

The report projects that emissions from the oil and gas sector -- including production, refining, and transportation via pipelines -- could be 110 million tonnes by 2030, down from 191 million tonnes in 2019.

"With record profits, this is the moment for oil and gas to invest in a sustainable future that will be good for business, good for communities, and good for our future," said Trudeau.

"This plan is the best we’ve ever gotten, and it’s nowhere near enough," said Tzeporah Berman, international program director for the environmental advocacy group "Stand.earth."

While a 42 per cent decrease in emissions is significant, Berman believes the oil and gas industry will need to cut carbon even further for Canada to reach its 2030 targets.

"That may mean they can’t do it through existing technology, and they actually will have to reduce (oil and gas) production to meet their emissions reduction goals. That’s a difficult thing," she said.

Berman is calling on the federal government to hold strong against oil lobbyists, who, she says, continue to have an influence on federal and provincial affairs.

The emissions plan includes $9 billion in new spending mostly to expand existing climate action grant and loan programs, including another $1.7 billion for electric vehicle rebates. More details on the new spending is expected in the next federal budget when it is tabled later this spring.

With files from The Canadian Press.