Page 4 - Simon Dyer News Today

Breaking News, Sports, Manitoba, Canada

Alberta Premier Danielle Smiths direction to her new environment minister lacks specifics on climate change and does more to protect industry interests than ecosystems, critics say.

CALGARY — As Danielle Smith's United Conservative Party celebrates Monday's election win in Alberta, the province's oil and gas sector remains in the dark over how much financial support the new government will offer it to decarbonize.

Both the Canadian government and the government of Alberta, source of most of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, have come out with emissions reduction plans that seem unlikely to pave the way to a lower carbon future. [Gas in Transition, Volume 3, Issue 4]

As Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party celebrates Monday’s election win in Alberta, the province’s oil and gas sector remains in the dark over how much financial support the new government will offer it to decarbonize.

CALGARY - As Danielle Smith's United Conservative Party celebrates Monday's election win in Alberta, the province's oil and gas sector remains in the dark over how much financial support the new government will offer it to decarbonize.

On April 19, the Environment Minister Sonya Savage released Alberta’s emissions reduction and energy development plan (ERED) — a plan that aims to “balance the economy and the environment” with an “aspiration to achieve a carbon neutral economy by 2050.”

Data from the report showed overall, Canada’s GHG emissions had decreased 8.4 per cent or 62 Mt from 2005 but had a slight increase of 1.8 per cent or 12 Mt from 2020. Despite the increase in GHG from 2020, emissions remained 7.4 per cent or 53 Mt below 2019 emission levels.

On Wednesday, the UCP government made an aspiration commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 — the first time it’s clearly done so.

Alberta’s road map depends on technology that is not yet viable, regulations that do not yet exist and interim targets that have not yet been set