On March 29, 2022, the federal Minister of the Environment and
Climate Change established a greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction plan
for 2030, the first of a series of GHG reduction plans required
under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability
Act (the Act)1 which came into force
last year. Among other things, the plan — titled the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan: Canada's Next
Steps for Clean Air and a Strong Economy [PDF] (the 2030
Plan) — contains Canada's national GHG emissions
reduction target for 2030 (the 2030 Target), which is 40–45%
below 2005 levels, a summary of Canada's most recent GHG
emissions, and the measures and strategies to be implemented
through the 2030 Plan to achieve the 2030 Target.
In this blog post, we highlight some of the measures and
strategies proposed in the 2030 Plan to achieve the 2030 Target.
For more information about the Act, its reporting and oversight
mechanisms, and its potential implications for Canada's efforts
to meet its GHG emissions reduction targets, see our previous blog post about the Act.
Canada's emissions profile, measures and strategies in the
2030 Plan
According to the 2030 Plan, total GHG emissions in Canada were
730 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2019. By
contrast, the 2030 Target calls for GHG emissions to be 443 million
tonnes (40% below 2005 levels), at most.2
To achieve the 2030 Target and put Canada on a path to achieve
net-zero emissions by 2050, the 2030 Plan includes $9.1 billion in
new investments, economy-wide measures such as carbon pricing and
clean fuels, as well as sector-specific measures in sectors such as
electricity, oil and gas, and agriculture.3 Key
economy-wide and sector-specific measures are highlighted
below.
Economy-wide measures to achieve 2030 Target
New economy-wide measures in the 2030 Plan include
Carbon pricing
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- Recommitting to the previously announced $15/tonne annual
increase in the backstop carbon price under the Greenhous
Gas Pollution Pricing Act starting in 2023, with a target
level of $170/tonne by 2030.
- Enhancing long-term carbon price certainty, such as through
carbon contracts for differences between the government and
low-carbon project investors that mitigate risk of future carbon
price levels.
- Developing a Federal GHG Offset System that allows the
generation of credits to encourage voluntary project activities
that reduce GHG emissions or remove them from the atmosphere.
- Funding the deployment of clean technology to decarbonize
industrial sectors (through the Decarbonization Incentive Program)
and production and delivery of clean electricity (through the
Future Electricity Fund).
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Clean fuels
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- Exploring the feasibility of a bioenergy strategy to use
agricultural, forestry and municipal waste resources to generate
energy.
- Consulting on a more stringent Clean Fuel Regulation, to
decrease the carbon intensity of liquid fossil fuels by 15% below
2016 levels by 2030.
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Low Carbon Economy Fund
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- Expanding the Low Carbon Economy Fund through a $2.2-billion
recapitalization, to further climate actions from provinces and
territories, municipalities, universities, colleges, schools,
hospitals, businesses, not-for-profit organizations and Indigenous
communities and organizations.
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Reducing methane
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- Releasing a plan in 2022 to reduce methane emissions across the
economy.
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Sector-specific measures to achieve 2030 Target
New sector-specific measures in the 2030 Plan include
Electricity
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- Requiring net-zero electricity by 2035 through a Clean
Electricity Standard, for which a discussion paper has been released and
consultation has been initiated with provinces, territories and
Indigenous partners.
- Expanding non-emitting energy deployment and development,
including through additional investments in renewable electricity
and grid modernization projects ($600 million) and predevelopment
work for large clean electricity projects ($250 million).
- Helping connect regions with clean power, including by
investing in regional net-zero energy plans, supporting de-risking
and accelerating the development of new interprovincial
transmission lines for clean power.
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Heavy industry (including mining and
manufacturing)
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- Introducing a new Buy Clean Strategy for federal investments,
to prioritize made-in-Canada low-carbon products in
infrastructure.
- Enhancing efforts to decarbonize large emitters through new
investments in the Industrial Energy Management Program, including
for energy efficiency retrofits for small-to-moderate projects
($194 million), and developing a Carbon Capture, Utilization and
Storage (CCUS) Strategy.
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Oil and gas
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- Capping emissions "at the pace and scale needed to get to
net zero by 2050," the details of which will be developed in
collaboration with industry, provinces and Indigenous partners
starting this spring.
- Supporting development of CCUS, including through policy
certainty (e.g., by providing the details of the CCUS investment
tax credit that was announced in 2021).
- Developing new measures to reduce oil and gas methane emissions
by at least 75% below 2012 levels by 2030, including strengthened
regulations that will be introduced in early 2023.
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Transportation
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- Accelerating the switch to zero-emission on-road vehicles
(ZEVs), including by setting annually increasing requirements
towards achieving 100% light duty vehicle ZEV sales by 2035 and
developing a medium-and-heavy-duty (MHDV) ZEV regulation to require
100% MHDV sales to be ZEVs by 2040 for a subset of vehicle types
(based on feasibility).
- Supporting transit agencies and school boards in transitioning
bus fleets to ZEVs, including through planning and purchasing at
least 5,000 zero-emission buses.
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Agriculture
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- Making additional investments in on-farm climate mitigation
practices and practices that contribute to the fertilizer emissions
target and Global Methane Pledge ($470 million), and in a resilient
agricultural landscapes program to support carbon sequestration and
adaptation ($150 million).
- Supporting the development and adoption of clean technologies,
including through increased funding ($330 million).
- Funding research supporting a path to net-zero emissions,
knowledge transfer and developing metrics ($100 million).
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Next steps
As indicated above, the Government of Canada will consult on
certain commitments in the 2030 Plan, including capping emissions
from the oil and gas sector at current levels and requiring that
they decline "at the pace and scale needed to get to net zero
by 2050" and transitioning to a net-zero emitting electricity
grid by 2035.4
With the 2030 Plan now established for the 2030 Target, the Act
requires that progress reports be made in 2023, 2025 and 2027. The
Act also requires the Government of Canada to set a more ambitious
2035 GHG emissions target by December 1, 2024, and to publish a GHG
reduction plan for this revised target by 2030. Around that time,
the Government of Canada will prepare a report to assess whether
the 2030 Target was met and, if not, reasons why it was not met and
actions the Government of Canada will take to address that
failure.
Footnotes
1 SC 2021, c 22.
2 2030 Plan [PDF], PDF 12 and
14.
3 2030 Plan, PDF 9.
4 See ECCC, "Deadline for public submissions to 2030 Emissions
Reduction Plan extended" (January 14, 2022),
online.
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