It’s time Liberals get serious about climate change

TORONTO—During last year’s federal election, the Trudeau government promised to join the growing list of nations committed to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. What we don’t know is what it will take to get there and how the Liberals would deliver on their goal. It will be far from easy. The International Energy Agency, in a new report released on clean energy innovation—Energy Technology Perspectives 2020—warns that “without a major acceleration in clean energy innovation, net-zero emissions targets will not be achievable.” Yet achieving this target is seen as essential if the world is to hold the rise in the average global temperature to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, the level seen as necessary to avoid catastrophic climate change. As the report notes, the world has seen a proliferation in the number of countries committing to the 2050 net-zero emissions target but “there is a stark disconnect between these high-profile pledges and the current state of clean energy technology.” While innovations such as solar power and wind power and other technologies in use today are helping, “they are insufficient on their own to bring the world to net zero while ensuring energy systems remain secure,” the IEA says. Much more innovation—and much more public and private investment in research, prototypes, demonstration projects and early adoption—is needed to create mature technologies that can be widely used at affordable cost. All of this also takes time. It has taken the past 30 years for solar panels to reach commercial viability, with government support and incentives playing critical roles. Moreover, “there are no single or simple solutions to putting the world on a sustainable path to net-zero emission,” the IEA warns. We will need a broad range of technologies. Four technology approaches, for example, would achieve half the cumulative emissions reductions that the world needs to move onto what the IEA calls a “sustainable trajectory." These are: electrification of end-use sectors such as heating and transport (such as electric vehicles), supported by batteries; the application of carbon capture, utilization and storage; the use of low-carbon hydrogen and hydrogen-delivered fuels; and the use of bioenergy. However, each of these technologies faces challenges in achieving commercial viability. Much more work needs to be done, hence the need to accelerate innovation and make progress on early-stage technologies. In its report, the IEA puts forward a Faster Innovation Case to push early-stage technologies, warning that “failure to accelerate progress now risks pushing the transition to net-zero emissions further into the future. The pace of innovation in coming decades will depend on the policies governments put in place today.” The COVID-19 pandemic threatens a major setback to the net-zero target if governments and companies cut back on initiatives to bring new technologies to market. On the other hand, the IEA says, governments could use the challenge created by the pandemic to accelerate clean energy innovation. “It can be a strategic opportunity for governments to ensure that their industries come out of the COVID-19 crisis stronger and ready to supply future domestic and international growth markets.” But this will require raising the level of ambition and support and much more focused strategies than we have seen out of Ottawa so far. So what are the policies the Trudeau government plans to put in place today? The Liberal platform doesn’t take us very far. Net-zero emissions can be achieved by some combination of cutting actual emissions and by taking actions to offset emissions (planting more trees is a popular example). At the heart of the Liberal plan is a pledge to set legally binding five-year milestones towards net-zero emissions “based on the advice of the experts and consultation’s with Canadians." A group of scientists and economists and experts will be appointed to recommend the best policies to get the net-zero emissions. The appointment of the expert panel and design of the legally binding milestones have yet to be set. Nor have we been told how the government plans to exceed our 2030 emission reduction targets, as promised in the Liberal platform, when we do not appear to be on track to meet our existing targets. The platform promises new measures to further reduce emissions by major polluters such as the oil and gas industry, to invest corporate tax revenues resulting from the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (it suggests this could be $500-million a year), along with proceeds from the sale of all or part of the projected clean economy investments. It plans interest-free loans of up to $40,000 to homeowners and landlords for energy efficient homes and grants of up to $5,000 to purchasers of new net-zero homes. It plans to install “up to” 5,000 electric charging stations on major highways; require that all federally funded public transit projects be net-zero bus and rail systems starting in 2023; to help fund 5,000 net-zero school and municipal transit buses over the next five years; pursue measures to help companies convert business fleets to net-zero vehicles; bring “clean and affordable power” with new clean electricity generation and transmission systems; establish a $5-billion Clean Power Fund to help electrify industries heavily dependent on fossil fuels; and “make Canada home to the cleanest mills, mines and factories in the world." It also plans to cut corporate taxes in half for businesses that develop technologies or manufacture products for net-zero emissions—and plant two billion trees over the next decade. All of this, the Liberals boast, will make Canada “the best place in the world to build a clean technology company.” How and when any of this will be implemented and how far it takes us towards net-zero emissions by 2050 is far from clear. It will take more than aspirations and boasts. It will take capacities for strategizing, implementation and transparency, all of which are all too rare in Ottawa. Yet there is too much at risk to fail. David Crane can be reached at crane@interlog.com. The Hill Times

It’s time Liberals get serious about climate change

The International Energy Agency, in a new report released on clean energy innovation—Energy Technology Perspectives 2020—warns that 'without a major acceleration in clean energy innovation, net-zero emissions targets will not be achievable.'

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It’s time Liberals get serious about climate change

The International Energy Agency, in a new report released on clean energy innovation—Energy Technology Perspectives 2020—warns that 'without a major acceleration in clean energy innovation, net-zero emissions targets will not be achievable.'

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