Government of Canada Releases Climate Change Plan for Canada

OTTAWA, November 21, 2002 - Environment Minister David Anderson and Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal, on behalf of the Government of Canada, today released the "Climate Change Plan for Canada". The plan outlines how Canada can meet the greenhouse gas reduction target it set for itself under the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The Plan contains measures to support action by individual Canadians, industrial emitters and governments. The Plan is intended to provide a framework and propose a further range of initiatives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It will continue to evolve as Canadians and their governments work together to create the healthy environment and dynamic economy we want for ourselves and for future generations of Canadians. The Plan recognizes the importance of:

• made in Canada solutions based on collaboration, partnerships and respect for jurisdiction;
• no region bearing an unreasonable burden;
• minimizing mitigation costs while maximizing benefits;
• promoting innovation and enabling opportunities;
• increasing infrastructure investments; and
• limiting uncertainties and risks.

"We have continued to work closely, with provincial and territorial governments, industry, labour and stakeholders since the release of the draft plan on October 24th and refined our plan accordingly," said Environment Minister David Anderson. "We are in substantial agreement on 9 of the 12 provincial and territorial principles. They are reflected in the Plan, and we are continuing our discussions with them on the issues that remain."

"Our Plan makes significant strides to address the specific concerns of the large industrial emitters. We will continue our productive dialogue with them on a number of issues, including risk exposure", said Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal. "Establishing a clear target that will not change and recognizing early action by industry will go a long way to providing the certainty that investors are seeking."

The Plan takes a step by step approach, as agreed by federal, provincial and territorial Ministers two years ago. Our first step, 80 megatonnes (MT), was Action Plan 2000 and Budget 2001 which together have put us on the road to meet the first third of our 240 MT target. The detailed initiatives in step 2 (100 MT) will bring us even closer totaling three quarters of our target. And the Plan clearly identifies practical, achievable options to take us beyond our target by the end of the first commitment period in 2012.

To achieve our goal, the Plan proposes five key instruments:

• for large industrial emitters, covenants, with a regulatory or financial backstop, and emissions trading with access to domestic offsets and international permits;
• a Partnership Fund which will allow the Government of Canada to collaborate and leverage investments with provinces, territories and others on emission reduction initiatives;
• strategic investments in infrastructure projects;
• increased investments in innovation technologies for climate change; and
• targeted measures, including information, incentives, regulations and tax measures.

Meeting the climate change challenge and seizing the opportunity will require nothing less than a national effort - one which engages every Canadian and includes every region. The Plan contains measures to support and enable action by individual Canadians and challenges every Canadian to reduce their personal emissions. An average reduction of 1 tonne per person is within reach and would eliminate emissions of 31 MT. Provinces and territories are taking action as well, and those reductions will make important contributions to our national greenhouse gas reduction goals.

The Plan is built on the best ideas to come out of ten years of consultations and collaboration with provinces, territories, industry, environmental groups, other stakeholders and Canadians since we agreed to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992. It is comprehensive and detailed - no other country has consulted more with internal levels of government, industry and stakeholders than Canada.

The Government of Canada will ensure that resources are adequate to achieve our goal and will do so in a fiscally prudent manner, aligning existing programs in support of climate change objectives and phasing in new spending over several budgets.

Related Document: Climate Change Plan for Canada.

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