NS Climate Change Action Plan

The Nova Scotia government released its Climate Change Action Plan, and hot on its heals are commentators from regional and national media – plus Nova Scotia’s favourite environmental advocacy group. The document is here: “Climate Change Action Plan“. Some commentaries can be found here:

Green scheme short on specifics, critics say (Chronicle Herald)

Cheryl Ratchford, Ecology Action Centre energy co-ordinator, said there are still a lot of unanswered questions. “The most important thing that we need answered (is): Where is the funding coming from?” she said. “There’s no budget attached to this climate plan and it’s going to be dependent on the spring budget, so if the priorities aren’t attached to the spring budget then perhaps this climate plan is in trouble.”

Emission targets won’t halt coal-fired power (Chronicle Herald)

NSP president Rob Bennett said in a separate news report that his company would be able to achieve the “aggressive” targets but hinted there would be a cost, even though the government hasn’t said how much it would cost Nova Scotia Power to reduce carbon emissions or whether government would be providing a subsidy to assist with the reduction. But Bennett gave some insight into how he was thinking when he pointed out that in the long run, energy costs are going up.

Opposition parties denounce N.S. plan to reduce emissions (Globe & Mail)

Currently, less than 10 per cent of Nova Scotia Power’s electricity comes from the renewable energy industry. While Mr. Morse said more research will be done on renewables, one producer of solar and wind energy said the province could have taken steps to allow producers to sell directly to consumers. Dan Roscoe of Scotian WindFields said he was disappointed that people who use renewables to produce energy have to go through Nova Scotia Power to sell their product. “[They should be] allowing consumers to choose a green option to buy directly from independent power producers,” he said. “There’s no mention of that in this plan, which is a disappointment.

Will Province follow Through on Promise to lead the way on Climate Change? (opens in Word) (Ecology Action Centre website)

Nova Scotians need the infrastructure in place to prepare for a low carbon future and a green economy. We also need adequate training and job support for the careers of the future. In short, the Ecology Action Centre expects to see hard caps on greenhouse gas emissions, prioritized investment in energy efficiency, support for community renewable energy development, annual predictable funding for transportation, the pinpointing of areas of climate change vulnerability, and better forest management.

Backgrounder on the Climate Change Action Plan and Energy Strategy (opens in Word) (Ecology Action Centre website)

Nova Scotia has the advantage of being home to some of the most cost-effective options to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Economic modelling has shown that Atlantic Canada would make the largest percentage reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, compared to other provinces, under a system that “caps” emissions and then allows reductions to be achieved in the jurisdictions with the lowest costs through carbon trading. Nova Scotia has a business case to achieving deep greenhouse gas emission reductions.

Full Ecology Action Centre Response (opens in Word) (Ecology Action Centre website)

In order to make more small-scale generation possible the government must go a step further and introduce feed laws that will guarantee a fair price to cooperatives, individuals or other groups that develop clean energy. The Energy Strategy offers a positive expansion to the net-metering system, but this is a small step.

Posted by Mike Targett | Email a comment