Carney sees path to net-zero running through affordability
‘There's no credible path to net-zero without a relentless focus on affordability,’ says Prime Minister Mark Carney. / TWITTER PHOTO
In a long-awaited announcement, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that the government would begin consultations on a National Electricity Strategy intended to double the capacity of Canada’s grid by 2050.
To do so, investments of $1.3 trillion will be needed over two decades, the government estimated, although details on Ottawa’s contribution were not available. Four months of consultations with provinces, utilities and Indigenous people will be undertaken to shape the federal electricity plan. And the government says it hopes to launch next steps in the strategy this fall.
The plan, which is intended to deliver up to $15 billion in total energy savings over 25 years, hinges on four initiatives: increasing electricity generation, expanding East-West transmission lines, training needed workers, and increasing domestic manufacturing content in the national build-out.
Facing the need to renew Canada’s industrial capacity in the face of the U.S. trade war, the prime minister reinforced the Liberals’ willingness to adjust climate policies to achieve their economic goals.
He said the government intends to water down the Trudeau-era Clean Electricity Regulations to give provinces more flexibility to use natural gas-generated power in the short term.
“There's no credible path to net-zero without a relentless focus on affordability,” Carney told the media on Parliament Hill. “That's why we intend to adjust the Clean Electricity Regulations, keeping energy reliable and affordable in the short-term as we shift to cleaner energy at scale over time.”
He added that the role of natural gas in the future energy picture “is dwarfed in scale in terms of the clean electricity investments that the country will be making across hydro, nuclear, renewables.”
This marked another rollback of federal climate policy, and, asked about meeting his government’s emissions reduction goals, the prime minister said “we’ll update our climate plans and our emission reduction targets in due course.”
Environmental groups sharply criticized the latest changes in Ottawa’s approach, saying they undermine the country’s climate pledges.
