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Net Zero: $17.6B pledged in Budget 2021 for transition to low-carbon economy By iPolitics. Published on Apr 20, 2021 12:23pm
The Lead
“When people look back on 2021, they’re going to say this is the year when the world pivoted to a green economy, and Canada has to be there. We have to be in the lead of that transformation,” Freeland told reporters. The Toronto Star has more.
Natural Resources Canada is set to receive $319 million over seven years for research and development of carbon capture technology, as well as $1.5 billion over five years to create a Clean Fuels Fund “to foster the production and distribution of fuels like hydrogen.” Meanwhile, Environment and Climate Change Canada would receive $67.2 million over seven years to implement the federal Clean Fuel Standard, “which is meant to reduce the carbon intensity of fuels,” the National Observer reports.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on March 18, 2020. Photo by Kamara Morozuk
The 2021 federal budget would slash corporate taxes for zero-emission technology manufacturers, offer tax credits for carbon-capture initiatives and spend billions of dollars on projects to cut carbon pollution and boost climate resiliency.
The budget unveiled Monday by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland contains several long-term, environment-focused funding initiatives, adding up to a $17.6-billion “green recovery” plan the governing Liberal Party hopes will create jobs, lower emissions and support Canada’s cleantech businesses.
It includes a $5-billion, seven-year commitment to the government’s “net-zero accelerator” for projects meant to decarbonize heavy-emitting sectors like steel and aluminum and “attract the large-scale investments needed to meet our goal of net-zero by 2050.”
BLAIR GABLE/Reuters
The introduction to the Conservatives’ new climate plan reads like their party having an argument with itself.
It derides the Liberal government’s carbon pricing model as a “tax hike.” Then it recognizes that carbon pricing is “the most efficient way to reduce our emissions.” Then it circles back to familiar arguments against the policy it’s just endorsed, including that it places an unfair burden on Canadians when some trade partners (including the United States) have not adopted the same approach.
This glimpse into the Tories’ inner monologue reflects what their leader, Erin O’Toole, has been going through. He has been trying to appease voters who believe his party needs to get serious about climate change, including through the market-based mechanism that should theoretically appeal to the centre-right, without alienating party members who consider any such concession a betrayal.