Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault stated on Tuesday that Canadians need to take further actions to meet climate targets.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, this comment came after Canada's Environment Commissioner warned that the targets are not progressing as expected despite implementing carbon taxes, clean fuel mandates, and the closure of coal mines.“We need to do more,” said Guilbeault. “We need to do it faster and that’s exactly what our government is doing.”“Better is always possible,” added Guilbeault. He did not dispute figures cited by Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco, who concluded Canada was the only G7 country that failed to cut emissions in 30 years.“Targets and plans have come and gone and Canada has yet to deliver on any,” DeMarco told reporters. “Meanwhile, the need to reverse the trend on Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions has grown only more pressing.”“Are you saying Canada is the only G7 country that hasn’t reduced emissions since 1990?” asked a reporter. “Yes,” replied DeMarco. “Canada is the only one that has not reduced emissions since 1990.”“Measures in the current plan are not sufficient to meet the target,” said DeMarco. The cabinet targeted a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2030. It currently claims to be on target for a 34% reduction.“The 34% is Environment Canada’s own projection,” said Commissioner DeMarco. “We have not been able to verify the accuracy of that.”The pledged 40% reduction amounts to 296 million tonnes of emissions, which is even higher than the total annual emissions from all road vehicles in Canada.“Bridging that gap with other initiatives is what is needed to meet the target,” said DeMarco. “They can’t just have a hope to fill those in with assumptions and so on.”“They’ll need measures that will actually fill that gap,” said DeMarco. “And we’re releasing this report early to help them course correct in order to meet the target as opposed to coming in late and just explaining why they didn’t meet another target.”The Environment Commissioner on Tuesday, in a report to Parliament, wrote that the cabinet “has still not taken sufficient steps to improve the transparency and reliability of its economic and emission modelling despite repeated recommendations from our office.”“Since 1990, the federal government has developed more than 10 plans to reduce emissions,” said the report Canadian Net Zero Emissions Accountability Act: 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan. “It has spent billions of dollars on developing and implementing plans. Despite these efforts, Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions were higher in 2021 than they were in 1990.”
