Over two dozen groups and individuals made presentations on the Environmental Goals and Climate Change Reduction Act at the law amendments committee on Monday.
On Oct. 27, the provincial government introduced Bill 57, which sets to legislate environment and climate change targets, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions to at least 53 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
While many environmental groups are applauding the government’s effort to address climate change, they are also raising concerns that the bill doesn’t go far enough.
On Monday, many of the presenters raised concerns over the 53 per cent greenhouse gas emission target.
“The priority amendments that I discussed today had to do with submitting a more ambitious target,” said Tina Northrup, a staff lawyer for East Coast Environment law.
“Specifically, increasing the ambition by five per cent, moving from 53 to 58 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.”
That 58 per cent better aligns with calls put forward by a group dubbed the 2030 Network, which submitted a 2030 declaration to the province in 2019 calling on the government to set gas targets to 50 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030.
“That target was understood to be a reflection and an echo of what Canada’s fair share would be at the international level,” Northrup said.
As part of the Paris Agreement adopted by countries around the world in 2015, the goal is to limit global warming to well below two degrees, but preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius. In order to keep on track with that, many argued on Monday that Nova Scotia needs to commit to the higher 58 per cent reduction target.
“Essentially, we need to reduce our emissions 10 per cent a year globally by the year 2030,” said Emma Norton with Climate Emergency Unit.
“So if we transpose that into emission reductions for Nova Scotia, that would be about 104 megatonnes in Nova Scotia between now and 2030, which actually means we’re not on track to stay within our carbon budget based on the 53 per cent reduction target. ”
In addition to stronger targets, there were also calls for more short-term goals to be included in the legislation. For the most part, the proposed legislation has goals for 2030 with annual reporting requirements.
“It’s worrying to me that when we pass this legislation that the very important goals are outside what can be assumed as the mandate of this government,” said Norton.
“We want targets within the mandate of this government,” said Gretchen Fitzgerald, national programs director with Sierra Club Canada Foundation.
“We think it’s very important that if the government makes commitments, they’re also willing to act.”
Both women suggest the government includes interim goals as part of the legislation, whether that’s every year or every two years, to ensure accountability and action.
“Every year we delay climate action, what we need to do to compensate for that inaction gets more and more ambitious,” said Fitzgerald.
Presenters also spoke about the need to commit to ending fossil fuel exploration and development offshore, defining renewable energy to ensure that it does not include biomass, addressing environmental racism, having higher electric vehicle sales targets and including specific plans to improve energy efficiency for low- and modest-income households.
Recommendations will be considered by the law amendments committee before the bill goes back to the legislature for its third reading.
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