Ecology Ottawa blasts provincial government’s climate plan
Posted Dec 1, 2018 08:25:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A local environmental group says the provincial government's recently-announced climate plan will squander the progress the city has made in fighting climate change.
The Progressive Conservative government's new plan included significantly reducing the province's emissions targets. While the former government committed to cutting greenhouse case emissions by 37 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030, Premier Doug Ford's government has said it will cut emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
Ecology Ottawa's executive director, Robb Barnes, said the new policy is “utterly reckless” and the “opposite of evidence-based.” The organization said the new plan threatens municipal climate plans such as Ottawa's that rely on price signals from carbon pricing.
“The United Nations tells us we have 12 years to avoid climate catastrophe,” said Barnes. “Instead of enacting meaningful climate policy, the province has decided to welcome this catastrophe with open arms.”
Ecology Ottawa said the government's new plan will also cut off funding for climate change solutions by scrapping cap-and-trade funds earmarked for energy efficiency projects.
