Since the beginning of this year, the provincial government has made three decisions that significantly impact the province’s direction on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and the Saskatchewan Environmental Society is calling on the province to backtrack on these decisions.
Board member, Peter Prebble, says the three decisions are lowering energy efficiency standards for new buildings, getting rid of the carbon tax on heavy emitters, and phasing out all conventional coal-fired power stations, and instead, looking at how to extend their use.
The last two go against federal regulations.
The Saskatchewan Environmental Society is disappointed with these actions. Prebble understands that some heavy emitters may be happy with the province nixing the carbon tax but suggests others have already been planning on making clean technology investments, so this adds uncertainty to the mix. He also suggests it may undermine Saskatchewan exports to trading partners, such as the European Union, which is bringing in carbon border adjustments, or tariffs, to penalize jurisdictions with high greenhouse gas emissions.
Prebble says Saskatchewan would definitely be considered a high emitting jurisdiction and says our emissions per capita are eight times the world average and three times the Canadian average.
Many people argue that Saskatchewan and Canada’s population is tiny compared to other jurisdictions, so they question why we should take action. Prebble explains that Saskatchewan’s greenhouse gas emissions per capita are eight times the world average and three times the Canadian average. He says, “We have a moral obligation to bring down those emissions as rapidly as we can, otherwise we are contributing to a global climate crisis on a per capita basis at a much higher level than almost any other jurisdiction in the world, and that’s happening because of provincial decisions.”
Prebble adds that the reality is everyone has this responsibility, and Saskatchewan as a province isn’t even beginning to tackle this. He believes that unless everyone works towards zero carbon emissions, we are going to be facing a climate emergency.
