The federal government has pushed back its goal of reaching a net-zero electricity grid by 15 years, to 2050, under new clean electricity regulations announced Tuesday – although officials maintain the target date has still was the objective.
Canada previously announced its goal to completely decarbonize electricity grids by 2035. But some provinces, including Alberta and Saskatchewan, have said that simply isn’t feasible.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith quickly responded to Ottawa’s plan by saying her province would immediately launch a legal challenge because the regulations encroached on provincial jurisdiction. She said it’s a case Alberta really hopes to win.
The country’s electricity grid is already largely green, with 85 percent of Canada’s electricity supply coming from non-emitting sources. But four provinces – Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick – still rely on coal and natural gas to provide between 30 and 85 percent of their electricity.
Committing to a net-zero electricity grid is an easy decision for the other six provinces, which are already more than 90 percent of the way there. The territories will be exempt from the regulations because most northern communities rely on diesel electricity generation and are relatively small emitters.
While most government communications in recent years have specifically referenced achieving a net-zero emissions network by 2035 – as part of Canada’s overall goal of becoming a net-zero economy by 2050 – a government update in February on regulatory work signaled a change in the timeline.
“We knew from the start that we could not achieve this in 10 years, especially since the regulations will not come into force until 2035,” said the Minister of the Environment. Steven Guilbeault, who has also previously spoken about Canada’s action to achieve a net-zero electricity grid by 2035.
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“Our intention has always been to see things happen before 2035. But we could not achieve a decarbonized network before 2050.”
Guilbeault also emphasized that the regulation will not come into force until 2035 – as the draft regulation also indicated.
“2035 is an important moment because even if the regulations do not come into force until then, the signal we send to those who will invest and operate the networks starts now. They basically have 10 years to prepare,” Guilbeault said.
Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson acknowledged the government could have been more precise in its language and context about what exactly the 2035 target referred to.
“So 2035 was really about having a plan for how you were going to reduce emissions to be able to get to a net-zero economy by 2050,” Wilkinson said, noting that the U.S. also has similar regulations with deadlines similar to achieve this. their net-zero electricity targets.
“Maybe we weren’t as precise in our language as we should have been. And it’s the same thing with the Americans, and it’s the same thing with all the G7 countries. When they talked about 2035, we all understood that it would take longer than that to get to a net zero grid.
The final regulations, which will be published on Wednesday, also provide for a lower reduction in greenhouse gas emissions than previously provided for in the draft regulations.
But Guilbeault explained that part of the difference between the projections was because emissions generated by cogeneration – where a single plant produces heat and electricity simultaneously – are instead covered by the emissions cap recently announced oil and gas. This issue was initially covered by the draft Clean Electricity Regulation.
These producers can produce their own heat and electricity, often at lower rates than they would otherwise source from a power grid.
“Because even if these units produce electricity, it is mainly electricity that is consumed… by the companies themselves that produce it,” explains Guilbeault.
The finalized regulations provide more flexibility than last year’s draft for provinces to comply with the changes. These include moving to an annual emissions limit for electricity generation units, as well as a credit system through which provinces can pool their total emissions limit for all units in a province.
“It’s about making sure you’re doing something that will actually work,” Wilkinson said.
“At the end of the day, we want Saskatchewan to succeed. We want Nova Scotia to succeed. We want New Brunswick and Alberta to succeed. But we also want to achieve a net zero emissions network by 2050.”
However, this flexibility did little to reassure Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who criticized the regulation as unconstitutional because it regulates an area of provincial jurisdiction.
“We are pleased to see Ottawa finally admit that the Alberta government’s plan to achieve a carbon-neutral electricity grid by 2050 is a more responsible, more affordable and more realistic goal,” Smith said in a statement .
“(The regulations) require generators to meet unreasonable and unattainable interim targets imposed by the federal government starting in 2035, which will still make electricity unaffordable for Canadian families.”
Smith added that Alberta would launch a legal challenge to the regulations.
The government also announced $60 billion in support over the next 10 years for clean energy.
© 2024 The Canadian Press