Five reports released by Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Jerry DeMarco suggest the federal government is struggling to execute critical aspects of its climate agenda
Ottawa is failing to deliver on key climate policies and may be overstating the effectiveness of others, according to a series of new reports by the federal environment commissioner that cast doubt on the Liberal government’s credibility on emission-reduction plans and projections.
“The Canadian government needs to be more up front and transparent about its efforts,” Mr. DeMarco told reporters after his assessments were tabled Tuesday morning in the House of Commons. “They’ve got to follow up their words with actions.” While Canada’s greenhouse-gas emissions dipped 9 per cent during the first year of the pandemic, the reductions were driven primarily by the COVID-19 recession and the decline in road and air travel owing to provincial lockdowns. Emissions are expected to bounce back up in Canada’s next inventory report to the UN.Mr. DeMarco’s five audits covered different time frames, but most looked at a period from some point in 2017 or 2018 to the fall or winter of 2021.
In the case of the consumer carbon price, Mr. DeMarco said Indigenous groups and small businesses are disproportionately affected by the policy, despite government attempts to lessen the burden. He found that the systems in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick don’t meet federal standards.
Since the audit period for the report ended, the government committed to introducing tax credits for clean technology investments and CCUS. In an interview Tuesday, Mr. DeMarco said those new policies improve the economics of hydrogen but there are still other elements of the government’s assumptions that must be addressed, including technology development and infrastructure needs.
“took little action until 2021″ and has yet to introduce the act. Various departments and regional agencies used a “business-as-usual approach” and “relied on existing program mechanisms that were not designed to support a just transition,” the commissioner found.