Nova Scotia tables bill aiming for net-zero carbon footprint by 2050

The Nova Scotia government has announced its plans to reach a new set of ambitious emissions-reduction targets through a recently tabled piece of proposed legislation.

The Sustainable Development Goals Act, tabled Wednesday by Environment Minister Gordon Wilson, sets goals to reduce the province’s greenhouse gas emissions by 53 per cent below 2005 levels before 2030 and make Nova Scotia’s carbon footprint net-zero by 2050.

“These goals are based on science,” Wilson said during a bill briefing Wednesday morning.

“We choose them because they are in line with recommendations made by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.”

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The new act replaces and updates the Environmental Goals and Sustainability Prosperity Act (EGSPA), which went into effect in 2007.

The proposed legislation is the result of public consultation and a ministers’ roundtable identifying key areas for consideration.

“Thousands of people took to the streets just to show how concerned they are,” Wilson said, referring to recent climate marches. “They expect government to take urgent action, and we agree.”

Although the targets are set, some details about the bill remain unclear.

Wilson indicated the government would undertake more consultation with stakeholders and the public in order to outline how it would reach the new goals.

“By the end of next year, we will produce a new climate change strategy to set out exactly how we will do that,” he said.

“I think this is a good thing for Nova Scotia. EGSPA, I think, has been really important for the province, and it’s really nice to have a roadmap for the province,” said Mark Butler, policy director for the Ecology Action Centre. “I look forward to 10,000-plus people engaging in those consultations.”

Despite applauding the government on such bold targets, the Ecology Action Centre says the work is just beginning and that, ultimately, the organization would prefer to see even greater reductions than those that have been proposed.

Stephen Thomas, energy campaign co-ordinator for the Ecology Action Centre, says the organization feels there’s an opportunity as public consultations are held to increase the targets.

“It is true that this is an improvement, that this target is the best climate target in Canada right now,” he said. “But it is also true that this doesn’t go far enough.”

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Thomas says the Ecology Action Centre believes a consultation period of one year should be sufficient to engage Nova Scotians and work toward mapping out initiatives.

The act also plans to create a Sustainable Communities Challenge Fund, which is aimed at supporting community projects fighting climate change as well as growing the economy.

It follows other recently tabled environmentally conscious legislation from Stephen McNeil’s Liberal government, such as the Plastic Bags Reduction Act and the Wilderness Areas Protection Act.

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