“The new climate policies proposed today by the Liberal Party of Canada offer a strong boost to the party’s earlier commitments. The plan matches the ambition of Canada’s 2030 target, a 40-45% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions relative to 2005 levels,” said Clean Prosperity Executive Director Michael Bernstein.
“A key part of the plan is the pledge to create a net-zero electricity grid by 2035. Zero-emission electricity will be the backbone of the net-zero economy. Canada is already a leader in clean electricity and the new Clean Electricity Standard that the Liberals propose would solidify this status, while ensuring we don’t fall behind the Americans on decarbonizing the grid.”
“The methane emissions reductions proposed are also appropriately ambitious. In particular, fugitive methane emissions are relatively low-hanging fruit—they are a potent source of global warming over the short term, but can be addressed with proven solutions that are relatively low-cost.”
“The new climate policies proposed today by the Liberal Party of Canada offer a strong boost to the party’s earlier commitments. The plan matches the ambition of Canada’s 2030 target, a 40-45% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions relative to 2005 levels,” said Clean Prosperity Executive Director Michael Bernstein.
“The regulation of the oil and gas sector to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 will undoubtedly attract much attention. In general Clean Prosperity prefers market incentives—such as carbon pricing—that spur innovation, rather than regulations. However, in this case, the largest oilsands companies have already committed to net-zero, and it is critical that all economic sectors reach net-zero emissions no later than 2050. Thus, there is the potential for this policy to help support the industry and its workers—but details will matter, and if the Liberals are elected it will be important for them to work closely with industry, especially on their proposed five-year targets.”
“There are other encouraging signals in this set of policies, including a national strategy to reach net-zero emissions from buildings by 2050. Too little has been done in the building sector to date and this strategy, if implemented, could lead to faster action in the near future.”
“Finally, the document does not specifically mention additional policies to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture or carbon dioxide removal technologies, but both will be critical to achieve some of the pledges in today’s announcement, especially reaching net-zero emissions in the oil and gas sector.”
“I would also encourage the Liberal Party to release independent modelling showing the types of emissions reductions they expect to achieve with their new package of policies.”
Clean Prosperity is a nonpartisan, independent nonprofit that advocates for effective climate policy. We do not support or oppose any political party.
Note: This statement was updated to reflect newly-released details about the Liberal Party’s climate plan.
For more information: media@cleanprosperity.ca
