New loopholes in federal climate plan criticized

Ottawa
— Major new loopholes in the federal government’s climate change plan
will allow greenhouse gas emissions to grow and lets the polluting oil
sands industry off the hook by delaying emission reductions for a
decade, say representatives of the Climate Action Network
Canada-Réseau action climat Canada, based on a new analysis from the
Pembina Institute.

 

“At a time when Canada
should be getting tough on major polluters, the country is going in
the opposite direction,” said Arthur Sandborn, Greenpeace Canada. “We
need absolute caps on emissions and mandatory targets for the
industrial sector that come into effect now, not 10 years down the
road.”

 

Earlier this month, the
government updated its proposal for regulating the greenhouse gas
emissions created by large industries. The federal government claims
new measures in the regulatory framework show it is getting “tough” on
industrial pollution.

 

“The new measures give new
oil sands facilities close to a free ride for the next decade, and,
when combined with new loopholes that the government has introduced, 
likely result in an even weaker framework than it proposed a year
ago,” said Clare Demerse, Pembina Institute, an author of the analysis.

 

One of the federal
government’s new measures is to set targets based on carbon capture
and storage (CCS) for oil sands starting operations that come on
stream after 2011 – an obligation that won’t come into effect until
2018.