Ontario backing off fight against greenhouse gas: watchdog
Posted December 4, 2012 2:56 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Ontario’s environment watchdog criticized the provincial government for not doing enough to combat climate change, warning the province will not meet its own environmental targets in 2020 and 2050.
Ontario is ending or scaling back programs that target greenhouse gas emissions, Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller said Tuesday in his annual review of the government’s climate change action plan, and those emissions contribute to climate change.
Without serious intervention, Miller said, “our planet is headed for a frightening future.”
The Climate Change Action Plan was first introduced in 2007, setting out greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2020 and 2050.
The province is halfway to its 2020 target, but Miller said he is concerned about the transportation sector, which he said is the largest source of Ontario’s greenhouse gas emissions.
He pointed to four areas where the government has scaled back programs, including cancelling the green commercial vehicle program, cutting funding for the electric vehicle program, delaying construction on high-occupancy vehicle lanes and not implementing a “cap and trade” program for emissions trading.
Miller praised the government’s effort to phase out coal-fired power generation, which he said helped Ontario reach 90 per cent of its 2014 target.
He recommended implementing a carbon-pricing system to combat climate change.
