Canada Releases Comprehensive Emissions Reduction Plan

In June 2021, Canada enacted the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, a bill that enshrines in law the country’s commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Building on that law and other actions, last week the government released Canada’s 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan, which provides a roadmap to how Canada will meet reduce emissions by 40 to 45 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

The plan includes $9.1 billion in new investments and calls for:

• Maintaining Canada’s approach to pricing pollution;
• Reducing energy costs for homes and buildings and developing a $150 million Canada Green Buildings Strategy;
• Empowering communities to take climate action by expanding the Low Carbon Economy Fund through a $2.2 billion renewal;
• Making it easier for Canadians to switch to electric vehicles through additional funding of $400 million for zero-emission vehicles charging stations;
• Driving down carbon pollution from the oil and gas sector by offering lower carbon oil and gas and capping oil and gas sector emissions;
• Increasing the supply of electricity and ensuring that all electricity generation has net-zero emissions;
• Helping industries, including the industrial metals sector, develop and adopt clean technology; and
• Providing an additional $780 million to the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund to deliver additional emission reductions from nature-based climate solutions.

Read the plan here.

Canada’s National Post examined how the plan would impact the country’s four largest industries, including the heavy industry and industrial metals sector. The newspaper noted that, although it accounts for 11 percent of the country’s emissions, the heavy industry sector has decreased its emissions by 10 percent since 2005. The new plan calls for a 32.4 percent reduction from current levels, which would reduce the heavy industry’s carbon-dioxide equivalent to 52 million tons by 2030.

The National Post also explored how Rio Tinto Ltd., Alcoa Corp., and the Quebec and federal governments have developed a carbon-free aluminum process that is expected to be commercialized in the next few years and how the federal government will use its $8 billion Strategic Innovation Fund to help steel plants convert to electrical arc furnaces and move away from metallurgical coal and reduce emissions. Read more here.

The Canadian Steel Producers Association already has announced its support for the plan.