The Alberta government’s climate change action plan is expected to include strategies to help farmers reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The action plan, a general outline of which was released Thursday by Environment Minister Rob Renner and Premier Ed Stelmach, focuses largely on development of a “made-in-Alberta” plan for carbon capture and storage — that is, capturing industrial emissions and locking them permanently underground in deep rock formations.
Carbon capture is expected to make up almost 70 per cent of the province’s planned emission reductions by 2050. The province aims to cut emissions by 200 million tonnes per year below projected “business as usual” levels by 2050. Such a reduction would also bring its annual emissions 14 per cent below 2005 levels.
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While details on programs are still to come, the province said it will have strategies in place to help both the ag and forestry sectors cut their greenhouse gas emissions, and will support municipalities in finding ways to cut emissions, including land use planning.
The plan also calls for increased investment in clean energy technologies and incentives to expand renewable and alternative energy use, such as through bioenergy and wind power. Such investments and incentives are expected to account for 18 per cent of Alberta’s reductions by 2050.
The province said it will also release details this spring on an incentive program for consumers to improve their energy efficiency.
Greenpeace Canada, for one, weighed in almost immediately on the Stelmach government’s plans, calling the carbon capture and storage concept “a high-cost option with long lead times” which will also “prevent investment in more cost-effective green energy solutions to global warming.”
