OTTAWA – The Green Party is calling for a redoubling of Canada’s climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives in light of the new report that describes a world on the brink of a descent into disaster.
The latest report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that climate change is already causing “dangerous and widespread disruption” to the environment and to billions of people around the world. Without major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the not-distant future will bring intense heat, rising sea levels, hunger and disease along with the rapid demise of coral reefs and countless animal species.
“If last year’s IPCC report was a ‘code red for the planet’, this one makes it even more clear that we are well down the pathway to creating an unlivable world,” said Green Party interim Leader Dr. Amita Kuttner.
“Of all the threats facing Canada – and all of humanity – the climate crisis is the most urgent and the one for which government action falls so badly short of what is needed. This is a failure of leadership on a grand scale.”
Green Party parliamentary leader Elizabeth May called on the government to change course immediately from its stated goal of “net zero by 2050” and to aim for far more ambitious short-term greenhouse gas reduction targets.
“Net zero by 2050 is dangerous,” she said. “Our goal should be a 60 per cent cut below 2005 levels by 2030, with a significant commitment to leave fossil fuels in the ground, on a pathway to net negative emissions by 2050.”
The following steps are essential, and should be implemented immediately:
- Just transition for fossil fuel workers
- End all producer subsidies for fossil fuels, immediately
- Reject any expansion in fossil fuel operations or infrastructure starting with immediate cancellation of the TMX pipeline project
- Rebuild a network of affordable and accessible ground transportation between communities across Canada
- Providing predictable, ongoing funding for a renovation wave of deep retrofits to all buildings in Canada, with priority given to low income and marginalized communities.
- Investments to zero-carbon aviation
- Supporting solar roofs and other renewables in residences and across institutional buildings
- Encourage renewable energy installation in distributed systems across Canada
- Engage Indigenous communities in renewable energy and pumped storage
- Increase carbon sequestration through soils and prairie long grass management
- Build a national electricity corridor for 100% renewable power.
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For more information or to arrange an interview:
John Chenery
media@greenparty.ca
1-613-562-4916 ext. 215