OTTAWA – May 1, 2007 –
The Honourable John Baird, Minister of the
Environment, will meet with his provincial
and territorial counterparts to discuss
plans to tackle climate change and air pollution
on May 28, 2007 during a meeting of the
Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment
(CCME) in Toronto, Ontario.
“ This Government recognizes the significant
actions provinces and territories are taking
to address climate change and air pollution,”
said Minister Baird. “These are serious
problems for all Canadians and we praise
provincial and territorial initiatives in
this area . It’s good to see Premiers and
Territorial leaders getting together today
to continue the dialogue to tackle this
important issue. I look forward to continue
working closely with my counterparts in
reaching our shared goal of coordinating
our efforts to tackle climate change and
improve the air we breathe.”
Canada’s New Government recently announced
Turning the Corner: An Action Plan to Reduce
Greenhouse Gases and Air Pollution. It will
impose mandatory targets on industry, so
that we stop the increase of greenhouse
gas emissions in three to five years and
achieve an absolute reduction of Canada’s
greenhouse gases from all sources by 150
megatonnes or 20 percent by 2020. Our comprehensive
plan will also cut air pollution from industry
in half by 2015. This can all be achieved
with the crucial and continued engagement
of the provinces and territories.
Our Plan contains several elements of particular
interest to provinces and territories, including
a carbon trading and offsets system, equivalency
agreements and the coordination with provincial
plans of the technology fund to ensure it
will not be used as a mechanism for the
inter-regional transfer of wealth and resources
. These and other issues will be discussed
during the CCME meeting later this month.
“I have spoken to the chair of the Council,
New Brunswick Environment Minister Roland
Haché, and we have agreed this meeting
will be the first of several opportunities
for the federal, provincial and territorial
governments to discuss better cooperation
and ways to facilitate the development of
a Canadian emissions trading system – the
most efficient and effective approach for
Canada – and the technology fund”, Minister
Baird said.
The Turning the Corner Action Plan is one
of several initiatives announced by Canada’s
New Government to tackle climate change
and reduce air pollution. One of the cornerstone
initiatives is a $1.5 billion trust fund
to support provinces and territories to
develop technology, energy efficiencies
and other projects that will provide real
results on reducing greenhouse gas and air
pollutant emissions.
Canada ’s New Government will work in close
partnership with provinces and territories
to promote collaborative approaches to reducing
air emissions that avoid unnecessary duplication
of effort so Canadians get the maximum amount
of environmental benefits with the least
amount of administrative and cost burden
for industry.
Actions by Canada’s New Government to Reduce
Greenhouse Gases and Air Pollution
Eric Richer
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of the Environment
Canada’s New Government Welcomes Release
of the IPCC Report on the Mitigation of
Climate Change
OTTAWA – May 4, 2007 – The Minister of the
Environment, the Honourable John Baird,
today welcomed the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Fourth Assessment
Report by Working Group III: Mitigation
of Climate Change, released earlier today
in Bangkok, Thailand.
“The IPCC summary report further demonstrates
that we are heading in the right direction
with our Turning the Corner Plan,” said
Minister Baird. “Our Government’s plan will
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air
pollution which is a major step towards
mitigating years of Liberal inaction.”
Climate change is a global issue that requires
global solutions. As each country is also
shaped by its own domestic realities, Canada’s
New Government is taking a leadership role
in tackling this challenge. Here are a few
key points raised in the IPCC report:
“The most stringent scenarios assessed
by the IPCC […] would require global CO2
emissions to peak before 2015 […]” [1]
Our Turning the Corner Plan announced last
week does exactly that. It puts forward
a plan for Canada to stop the increase of
emissions by 2010-2012 by setting challenging,
yet realistic mandatory targets.
“Integrating air pollution abatement and
climate change mitigation policies offers
potentially large cost reductions compared
to treating those policies in isolation.”
[2]
For the first time in Canada, the federal
government is taking a leadership role with
its plan to address both greenhouse gases
and air pollution. We have committed to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 150 megatonnes
by 2020. In addition, we will impose mandatory
targets on industry so that air pollution
emissions from industry is cut by more than
half by 2015.
“Government support through financial contributions,
tax credits, standard setting and market
creation is important for effective technology
development, innovation and deployment.”
[3]
Canada ’s New Government is taking a leadership
role in reducing greenhouse gases and air
pollution and has put in place several complementary
measures to achieve real reductions, such
as:
supporting provincial and territorial environmental
projects (Trust Fund);
investing in cleaner and renewable energy
(ecoENERGY);
encouraging development and use of cleaner
transportation (ecoTransportation);
supporting the increased production of biofuels
and other bioproducts (ecoAgriculture).
As stated in the IPCC report, technological
innovation is key to ensuring environmental
progress. Through our Technology Fund, we
want to ensure we provide the stimulus for
technology development in the early years.
We want Canadian companies to be able to
make real contributions here at home by
investing into a technology fund that will
deliver reductions across industry and regions.
This fund will allow Canada to become a
leader in new green technologies, with potential
export markets around the world.
“Canada will continue to work with its
international partners to develop a meaningful
and realistic plan to address this global
challenge,” said Minister Baird. “We will
collaborate with other countries to help
advance a more effective long-term approach
to tackling climate change. “
For more information on what the Government
is doing to tackle climate change and reduce
air pollution, visit www.ecoaction.gc.ca.
Eric Richer
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of the Environment
