With the fight against climate change now at full throttle, it is now high time for Canada to take up an important stance in achieving highly ambitious climate goals. The country has committed itself to put itself on a pathway to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Short-term goals have been fixed: it aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40-45 percent below the level of the base year, 2005-by 2030. Approaching nearly 2025, quite a lot of question marks lie as regards the country’s ability to meet those targets and about those challenges.
This is reflected through Canada’s commitment to adopting the Paris Agreement, which limits global warming to 1.5 degrees above preindustrial levels; therefore, some huge changes on energy infrastructure and industries, as well as transport, must be applied in Canada to adjust to this. Policies initiated by the federal government to facilitate this are: carbon pricing, clean technology investments, and incentives towards the development of renewable energy. Despite all of them, such policies fail to make it hard for the country to meet climate targets.
A big and driving sector in the climate strategy in Canada is that of energy. This sector releases quite a chunk of the country’s emissions. As with the oil and gas produced by such a vast country, it gets difficult not to recognize the requirement of the nation to end all fossil-fuel-based alternatives as a mean for cutting emission. Various techniques had been involved by the government with the aim to introduce clean energy options, be it wind power, solar power, or hydroelectric. There are also investment initiatives on energy storage solutions and modernisation of the grid toward bringing in much more renewable energies.
Yet still in the way stands the intense reliance on oil and gas-from Alberta to Saskatchewan-the country’s enormous tar sands a mammoth source of emissions, and yet despite all kinds of efforts to dial back the sector’s carbon footprint, it will continue to be an enormous chunk of the Canadian tally. But more ominously, so to speak, is the infrastructure for oil and gas-a web of pipelines and refineries-being put in place that could lock the country into an age of very high carbon everlastingly.
The other key area for Canada is in transportation. Actually, it serves as the nation’s second leading source of GHG emissions-transportation as mainly through its roads, airplanes, and also ships. Most of the transport sources can be attributed to road, then air transportation, followed by shipping. It adopts the strategies to reduce emission from transport sources through the adoption of electric vehicles and more rigid fuel standards are going on in Canada.100 percent new car sales, it ensures that federal government is absolutely ZEV 2035
Trend in electric vehicle uptake is in an ascending order. And yet such inclinations, various kinds of challenges would be happening for such an affair to really make a real one. Major barriers include a very high price to EVs, the very low state of the charging infrastructure, and reluctance for giving up on gasoline cars. Other changes include ensuring a better supply of sources of renewable energies to power more electric vehicles. This would imply that the remainder of the power network that uses fossil fuels needs to be more decarbonized in order for this transition to truly be a successful combination of electric vehicles.
Forests also play an extremely significant role in the climate strategy for Canada. Big forest ecosystems in Canada act as carbon sinks that absorb massive amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere. However, these forests have been suffering due to climate change because fires, pests, and diseases are constantly negatively affecting its well-being. The overall loss affects carbon sinks in Canada while simultaneously releasing the stored carbon in the trees when they are burnt or decomposing.
Improving on these challenges facing the ecosystem, the government of Canada has utilized different reforestation, conservation, and forest management programs and measures. Other actions include climate change adaptation strategies that are designed to protect vulnerable ecosystems and communities from adverse impacts brought about by climate change. Most importantly, they are likely to happen if sufficient resources and cooperation across provinces will be available and directly address the reason why these forests become degraded in the first place.
Another sector that the Canadian climate strategy will target is the industrial sector. The mining, manufacturing, and agriculture sectors are among the largest sectors contributing to GHG emissions. As a result, Canada must do something to minimize the contribution of these sectors to its emissions. This is achieved through cleaner technologies, improvement in energy efficiency, and shifting to low-carbon alternatives.
The Canadian government has implemented several initiatives aimed at encouraging innovation and investment in clean technologies. The challenge, however, is that scaling up solutions across industries is a problem. Some of the industries, like renewable energy and electric vehicles, have been doing well, but others are having a hard time cutting emissions at the pace required. Regional and industrial variations in transitioning to cleaner alternatives because of economic and structural factors also add to the problem.
Actually, on the policy front, Canada has had a carbon tax that would encourage businesses as well as households to decrease carbon footprints though the said carbon pricing remained a contentious debate in certain regions. Some regarded it as “unreasonable as it is to put such unbearable burdens on individual industries and domestic households”. There will be carbon pricing in Canada, which has to adjust and progress while there being concerns the country has regarding its impact on affordability and competitiveness.
It brings challenges in addition to opportunities for Canada to meet its climate targets by 2025. Many areas Canada has been very successful in: adoption of renewable energy, electric vehicle deployment, and much more. Much, however, has to be done towards long-term objectives. Moving toward a low-carbon economy is going to call for major investments in clean technologies, infrastructure, and policies and will have to be shared between the federal, provincial, and municipal governments.
Conclusion:
This commitment, innovation, and collective action will have to continue so that Canada is able to realize its climate goals. The real test in the next few years will be how well the country can change and reduce emissions to protect ecosystems while shifting to a sustainable energy future.
Source: Government of Canada – Climate Change