The Ecology Action Centre is looking for more information about the province’s plan to battle climate change.
Director of Programs Marla MacLeod is sharing her reaction to the Climate Change Plan, which was released yesterday.
She says it falls short with commitments to end actions that could continue to threaten the environment.
“We saw announcements last week to reopen the Donkin Coal Mine, we’re seeing increased interest in gold mining, we have no firm commitment to not put that LNG plant in Goldboro,” says MacLeod. “This really undermines some of the work because you can’t have it both ways.”
MacLeod says the actionable measures to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change hit the big points but she wants more details on accountability and funding commitments.
She likes the commitment to annual reporting but wants to see it go a step farther with progress reports and explanations if targets aren’t hit. She also wants more details in the spring budget about funding.
MacLeod says the plan is a solid starting point and if its goals are reached the province would be on track to exceed their 2030 greenhouse gas emission targets.
“In general, I feel positively about the plan,” says MacLeod. “One of the big things I liked is that if we achieve everything in this plan we’d be on track to exceed our greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for 2030.”
The province says they’re committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 53 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, with a goal of getting to net-zero by 2050.
The Climate Change Plan outlined 68 actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Nova Scotia.
“This is a solid starting point,” says MacLeod. “Once you dig into the 68 actions, many of them are still somewhat undefined but I think they’re, in general, moving us in the right direction and we’ll be able to work with this.”
The Ecology Action Centre has released a document going through the actions, laying out their questions and what they want to see going forward. It can be found here
