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COVID-19 pandemic helped Quebec top its emissions target: environment minister

Click to play video: 'How hosting COP15 may have helped Quebec’s own nature protection efforts'
How hosting COP15 may have helped Quebec’s own nature protection efforts
The United Nation’s biodiversity conference being held in Montreal has ended, with delegates reaching a deal some call historic. Participating countries committed to protecting 30 per cent of the world’s biodiversity and territories by 2030. As Global’s Gloria Henriquez reports being host to the talks may have brought benefits to the province’s own biodiversity – Dec 19, 2022

The Quebec government is crediting the COVID-19 pandemic for helping the province surpass its climate change targets.

Quebec cut emissions from greenhouse gases — which trap heat and warm the planet — by almost 27 per cent compared to 1990 levels between 2013-2020.

The province’s goal was to cut emissions by 20 per cent over that period.

Environment Minister Benoit Charette says Quebec surpassed its target because of the pandemic-induced economic slowdown and drop in car traffic.

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Charette says that while emissions from the transportation sector dropped between 2019 and 2020, they increased steadily from 2013 to 2020.

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He says the government expects a rebound in emissions due to the post-pandemic economic recovery, as Quebec seeks to cut emissions by 37.5 per cent from 1990 levels by 2030.

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