Climate change is real. Its not something that is far away in the future. Its around us now. All the odd phases of weather we are seeing now is a part of it. That brings us to the questions; What are we doing about it? And how we are doing it? To say both are complex questions would be an understatement. We often hear many numbers and targets thrown around conversations about climate change. The Paris Agreement, the energy step code, the national targets, country targets etc. It can get confusing. In this post I want to clear all the clutter and put here just the targets of Canada and BC. I live in BC. I work in this field. That is why I am centering it around where I live.
So what is Canada’s emissions reductions target?
Canada has a target of cutting down GHG emissions by
40-45 % from 2005 levels by 2030.
And there is a commitment to reach Net Zero by 2050 (set in 2015). So what does this mean? Lets look at the numbers. Canada emitted 730 Million tons of CO2 equivalent (excluding land use, land-use change and forestry) in 2005. By 2030 Canada plans to cut down these emissions by 40-45 %. If we take the figure of 45% reduction then the emissions in 2030 will be 401.5 Million tons of CO2 equivalent.
Where are we at present?
Figures from 2019 do not show much change from 2005 which is quite surprising. We are still around 730 Million tons. But at least it did not grow beyond 730. But we do have now a target of reducing around 330 Million tons in just 11 years. That means around 30 Million tons every year. Based on Climate Action tracker its dropping but more is needed at a much faster rate.
https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/7ec2467c-78b4-4c0c-a966-a42b8861ec5a/Canada2022.pdf
Now coming to British Columbia.
What is BC’s emissions reductions target?
BC has a step by step target plan. It aims to reduce the GHG emissions by
16% below 2007 levels by 2025
40% below 2007 levels by 2030
60% below 2007 levels by 2040
80% below 2007 levels by 2050
In 2007 BC’s emissions were 65.5 Million tons of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e). If we calculate the target numbers they will be as follows
Below 54 MtCO2e by 2025
Below 39 MtCO2e by 2030
Below 26 MtCO2e by 2040
Below 13 MtCO2e by 2050
Where are we at present?
In 2020 BC’s emissions were at 64.6 MtCO2e which is a drop of just 1.37%. We still have a long way to go. If we check the next step goal we have 2025 to look at. To reach 2025’s target BC has to reduce roughly 2 MtCO2e every year.
Overall both Canada and BC need to do a lot more than what is happening currently.
Sources:
1. https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/7ec2467c-78b4-4c0c-a966-a42b8861ec5a/Canada2022.pdf
2. https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/canada/
3. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/climate-change/data/provincial-inventory#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20B.C.’s%20gross,emissions%20reduction%20and%20sectoral%20targets.
4. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/climate-change/planning-and-action/legislation