Ontario Joins Climate Protection Club, Absolute Targets Contrast Sharply with Federal Approach

“Setting absolute targets and backing them up with legally-binding requirements, implementation programs and incentives is the only way to drive real results that improve the efficiency of our economy and safeguard the environment,” says Keith Stewart, Manager of WWF-Canada’s Climate Change Program. “WWF-Canada continues to have higher expectations for a clean, climate-friendly energy plan and will work, including through the Premier’s implementation task force, to ensure Ontario maximizes its contribution to solving the climate crisis.”

Ontario is aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 6 per cent by 2014, 15 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050, measured against the Kyoto baseline of 1990. These targets stand in stark contrast to the Harper government’s insistence on intensity targets and a 2006 baseline, which effectively abandons Canada’s Kyoto commitment.

This parallels the situation in the USA where sub-national governments are taking the lead. “In Canada, we see provinces from coast to coast leading the way to reduce CO2 emissions, in the absence of leadership from the federal government”, says Julia Langer, Director of WWF-Canada’s Global Threats Program. “The heat is building on our federal government to get in step with provincial governments, with Canadians, and with the world by finally adopting real measures to prevent dangerous climate change.”

For Ontario to achieve Kyoto-level reductions of 6% by 2012 rather than by 2014 would require advancing the coal phase-out date from 2014. This is hampered by the government’s continued emphasis on nuclear power, which is slow to build as well as expensive and unreliable. WWF notes that climate scientists have recommended industrialized countries cut greenhouse gas emissions 30 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020, and 80 per cent by 2050, in order to stabilize the climate.

Ontario’s emissions represent 28 per cent of Canada’s total, and have risen 15 per cent since 1990, largely due to increased pollution from coal-fired electricity generating stations, the shift to larger vehicles and greater use of trucks for carrying freight. Nationally, greenhouse gas emissions are up 25 per cent over 1990 levels.