Trudeau’s pipeline approvals complicate math of cutting Canada’s GHG emissions
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the approval this week of two major oil pipeline expansions, insisting all the while that the new fossil fuel infrastructure fits within his Liberal government’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Environmental advocates immediately called the approvals a betrayal, but a series of government climate policy moves this year suggest Canada’s emissions should come down — although whether it will be enough to meet the country’s 2030 climate commitment is another matter.
Trudeau sits down next week with provincial and territorial premiers to complete a pan-Canadian climate strategy that’s supposed to put the country on a downward emissions trajectory to its 2030 Paris emissions target. The government has promised the United Nations that Canada will cut emissions 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
Canada’s greenhouse gases have been slowly trending upward for half a decade after a recession-induced dip, and every new fossil fuel project approved adds fuel for critics who say the country is once again going to blow past its international climate promises.