PARLIAMENT HILL—Canada’s efforts to address climate change have cost billions but resulted in no measurable impact, according to a report tabled Tuesday by Canada’s environment commissioner.
More than $9 billion was allocated to the 2010 climate change plan but the government cannot measure and report emission reductions, said Scott Vaughan, commissioner of the environment and sustainable development.
Vaughan noted that although there were improvements in the completeness and transparency of information in climate change plans, tools to measure and report emissions were not developed.
“There is a lot of money obviously, and to date it’s been pretty mediocre results.”
He also looked at the impact of oil sands projects and found that the government had not implemented a system to track the cumulative effects of oil sands development in the region, and does not know the impacts on fish and wildlife.
“We found that decisions about the oil sands projects have been based on incomplete, poor, or non-existent environmental information.”
The government responded to that failing, however, and last July laid out a detailed plan to get environmental monitoring in place that would look at impacts on biodiversity in northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Mackenzie Basin of the Northwest Territories.
If implemented, the plan would provide critically needed information.
Vaughan described it as a “game changer” because it would track contaminants ecosystem-wide.
Environment Minister Peter Kent emphasized the report’s support for those plans when facing his counterpart, NDP environment critic Megan Leslie, in question period later on Tuesday.
Programs aimed at cutting emissions also came under scrutiny. Vaughan noted that Environment Canada put the cost of one program at $92,000 for each one tonne of carbon reduction, while purchasing an offset for a tonne of carbon costs only $15.
“We found that decisions about the oil sands projects have been based on incomplete, poor, or non-existent environmental information.”
The government responded to that failing, however, and last July laid out a detailed plan to get environmental monitoring in place that would look at impacts on biodiversity in northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Mackenzie Basin of the Northwest Territories.
If implemented, the plan would provide critically needed information.
Vaughan described it as a “game changer” because it would track contaminants ecosystem-wide.
Environment Minister Peter Kent emphasized the report’s support for those plans when facing his counterpart, NDP environment critic Megan Leslie, in question period later on Tuesday.
Programs aimed at cutting emissions also came under scrutiny. Vaughan noted that Environment Canada put the cost of one program at $92,000 for each one tonne of carbon reduction, while purchasing an offset for a tonne of carbon costs only $15.
Poor Coordination
The government currently has 35 programs to address climate change, but they are not operating on the same page.
“Right now it’s looking to us to be disjointed, confused, non-transparent, and a lack of good coordination among many of the programs,” Vaughan said.
But the lack of information and effective management are not new problems, he noted.
“The questions that the government is trying to address today are exactly the same questions which their own federal scientists raised in 1999.”
Vaughan’s report questions why those gaps were never closed. He said the problem goes back 10 years, even before the current government, but the decade has seen little corrective action.
“For the last 10 years, the government kept doing the exactly the same thing and exactly the same approach, year after year—even though they knew the results of that would be inadequate,” he said.
For this reason, he expressed doubt the government can reach any emission target it has ever set, whether it be in Cancun, Kyoto, or Copenhagen, the sites of three major agreements on greenhouse gas reductions.
Leslie said the lack of information reflects the government’s plan to fail on international climate change obligations, given that previous reports have warned about a critical shortage of data.
“The only thing that’s going down right now is this government’s ambition, not our emissions.”
Leslie said the NDP was not against oil sands development but projects should be paused until the government knows the environmental impacts.
She added that the oil sands were currently in an “uncontrolled expansion.”
“Right now it’s looking to us to be disjointed, confused, non-transparent, and a lack of good coordination among many of the programs,” Vaughan said.
But the lack of information and effective management are not new problems, he noted.
“The questions that the government is trying to address today are exactly the same questions which their own federal scientists raised in 1999.”
Vaughan’s report questions why those gaps were never closed. He said the problem goes back 10 years, even before the current government, but the decade has seen little corrective action.
“For the last 10 years, the government kept doing the exactly the same thing and exactly the same approach, year after year—even though they knew the results of that would be inadequate,” he said.
For this reason, he expressed doubt the government can reach any emission target it has ever set, whether it be in Cancun, Kyoto, or Copenhagen, the sites of three major agreements on greenhouse gas reductions.
Leslie said the lack of information reflects the government’s plan to fail on international climate change obligations, given that previous reports have warned about a critical shortage of data.
“The only thing that’s going down right now is this government’s ambition, not our emissions.”
Leslie said the NDP was not against oil sands development but projects should be paused until the government knows the environmental impacts.
She added that the oil sands were currently in an “uncontrolled expansion.”
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