August 27, 2007
Energyevolution.com
The "Governator," no longer tackling arch-villains in action movies, is taking on a new enemy -- and the provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba are helping him.
Last week the office of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced it had got six Western U.S. states and those two provinces, who have signed on to the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), to agree to establish a common goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 15% below 2005 levels by 2020.
Schwarzenegger's office said the total reductions in GHGs will exceed 350 million metric tonnes.
The WCI was established earlier this year when the California leader signed a memorandum of understanding with four other states to partner in the fight against climate change.
British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell met with Schwarzenegger this past spring in Vancouver and agreed to have B.C. join the group.
Manitoba has since joined, along with Utah.
The agreement was originally signed on Feb. 26 and was supported by California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington.
In addition, the states of Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming are observing the WCI proceedings and the state of Sonora, Mexico, along with Ontario and Quebec, are also doing so.
In a press release, Schwarzenegger's office said the WCI will publish a proposal establishing a regional carbon emissions trading system within the next year.
It said the proposal will be a resource for the California Air Resources Board, which is ultimately responsible for considering, developing and implementing an emissions trading system in the state.
The state has taken a number of initiatives to deal with climate change and it said a goal of the WCI is "bringing together partners outside of California to work on a parallel track to lay the groundwork for a regional carbon emissions trading system."
Last September, Schwarzenegger signed the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, a bill aimed at reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. In addition, the governor has called for the state to reduce CO2 emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by the year 2050.
He also announced this past January the world's first Low Carbon Fuel Standard for transportation fuels that requires fuel providers to reduce the carbon intensity of fuels sold in California. By 2020, the standard will reduce the carbon intensity of the state's passenger vehicle fuels by at least 10%.
Dale Marshall, climate change policy analyst for the Vancouver-based David Suzuki Foundation, says the Canadian participation in the group is laudable, but it is the provinces that have chosen not to become involved that represent the greatest potential source of growing GHGs.
"Alberta, the largest emitter in Canada, appears not to be interested," he says. "Am I surprised? They've opposed every effort within the country or cross-border to deal with greenhouse gas emissions."
Notable also by its absence is Saskatchewan, he says.
Both provinces are large coal-fired power users and also large oil and gas producers, which have seen their GHG emissions steadily rise.
However, Marshall says he sees some hope this is starting to change.
"There has been a sea-change in terms of communication from the Saskatchewan government," he says. "They released a climate change plan recently that sets a goal of having GHG emissions at 10% above 1990 levels by 2020. That doesn't sound so great, except they're now 60% above that level."
He notes he has "some problems with the details" of Saskatchewan's climate change plan, but considers it positive that the province "appears to be taking the issue seriously."
Even Alberta, the environmental bad boy among Canadian province, responsible for about 30% of total GHG emissions of 747 million metric tonnes (2005 statistic), with a growth in its emissions from 1990 of 37.1%, to 233 million metric tonnes, is showing some signs of getting serious about tackling climate change, says Marshall.
"I'm actually quite optimistic about what is going to happen in the future," he says. "Provinces like Alberta now realize that the longer they wait to reduce emissions, the costlier it will be to do so."
While Alberta's climate change plan is based on intensity, rather than absolute targets -- which Suzuki and other environmental groups reject -- the mere implementation of a plan "shows that the awareness of climate change is greater, even in Alberta."
Aside from some Canadian provinces supporting the California initiative, there is a move within the country to seriously deal with climate change, he says.
Four provinces, including B.C., Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, have all agreed to put a cap and trade system into place for GHG emissions.
"Alberta and Newfoundland are still resisting a cap and trade approach, but I think they'll realize at some point that they need to take that action," says Marshall.
While Alberta continues to trail other provinces in dealing decidedly with climate change, he says neighbouring B.C. is leading the way, with Premier Campbell strongly supporting California's lead. The province, which saw its emissions grow 30% from 1990 levels (to 65.9 million metric tonnes by 2005), has set a target of getting to 10% below the 1990 level (50.6 million metric tonnes) by 2020.
