http://www.pembina.org/media-release/canada-uk-and-partners-launch-global-alliance-to-end-coal-fired-power
Canada, UK, and partners launch global alliance to end coal-fired power
Pembina Institute reacts to launch of Global Alliance to Power Past Coal
at COP23
Nov. 16, 2017
BONN, GERMANY — Erin Flanagan, federal policy director at the Pembina
Institute, made the following statement in response to the release of
the founding declaration on the Global Alliance to Power Past Coal:
“In an effort to speed the global transition to clean energy, today
Canada and the UK launched a high-ambition club of partners engaged in
the shift away from coal-fired electricity. The Alliance provides a
platform for progressive actors to showcase policy leadership, and to
offer support to peer jurisdictions seeking to phase out traditional
coal-fired power.
“Limiting the role of coal in the global electricity mix is a core
requirement for the successful implementation of the Paris Agreement.
All OECD countries and regions must decarbonize their power sectors by
2030 to ensure electrification policies generate as much climate benefit
as possible. But there are also other reasons to move away from coal: in
Canada and around the globe, pollution from coal-fired power causes
numerous cases of respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, and
premature death.
“The extent to which the Alliance has a sustaining structure — including
staff support, long-term funding and a technical work program — will
determine its effectiveness. We encourage the Alliance to outline its
immediate policy priorities and urge members to continue cooperating in
the spirit of increased global climate action. Through ongoing technical
exchange, participants can learn from the expertise of leading
sub-national jurisdictions, especially Alberta and Ontario.
We congratulate all participants on the launch of the Global Alliance to
Power Past Coal and look forward to ongoing progress towards a
climate-smart power sector.”
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http://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/canada-and-uk-form-alliance-to-phase-out-coal-to-combat-climate-change
Canada and U.K. form alliance to phase out coal to combat climate change
The Canadian Press
Mia Rabson
November 16, 2017
6:32 AM EST
Last Updated
November 16, 2017
5:04 PM EST
OTTAWA — Canada and the United Kingdom have enticed 18 other nations to
adopt their mutual goal of weaning themselves off coal-fired power — but
at least two provinces are trying to negotiate their way out of the
federal government’s own domestic plan.
Environment Minister Catherine McKenna was all smiles Thursday as she
and her British counterpart officially launched the Global Alliance to
Power Past Coal at the United Nations climate change talks in Germany.
Eighteen countries, five provinces and two states signed onto the
Canada-U.K. alliance.
“We’re seeing huge momentum for this move away from coal and towards
clean power,” McKenna said in a conference call after the event in Bonn,
Germany.
The world’s biggest emitters, like China, the United States and India,
were not there. Neither was Germany, one of the world’s loudest voices
in the climate change battle but whose domestic reliance on coal is
still stopping it from promising to phase it out.
The alliance aims to have 50 members by the time the UN climate talks
take place in November of next year. Right now McKenna has some work to
do getting every Canadian province onside, let alone the rest of the world.
Only four provinces still need coal to make electricity, and McKenna
said she is working with Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick to phase it out by 2030, including offering up federal money
to help. So far, only Alberta is on board and has a plan to do it.
Saskatchewan Environment Minister Dustin Duncan said Thursday he is
negotiating a deal with McKenna to let his province get credit for the
carbon capture and storage system it has on one coal-fired power plant
to offset the emissions from continuing to use at least one other plant
without such a system after 2030.
Duncan said several plants in the province would have to be retrofitted
before 2030 to keep them operating, but there is one that won’t hit its
50-year lifespan until 2042 and Saskatchewan has no interest in turning
it off early.
“We think we’re pretty close (to an agreement),” Duncan said. “My
expectation is and certainly my interest is that the equivalency
agreement, the wording, will be agreed to by the federal minister
shortly, in the next couple of weeks.”
Saskatchewan currently relies on coal for more than 50 per cent of its
electricity. About 25 per cent comes from natural gas power plants and
18 per cent from hydroelectricity and other forms of renewables. The
province hopes to get to 50 per cent renewables by 2030.
Conservative environment critic Ed Fast said this week his party
believes Canada should eliminate “dirty coal” plants that have no
technology to reduce their emissions but it has to be done in a time
frame that doesn’t hurt either the economy or hike power bills. He
pointed to Ontario, where power bills soared 70 per cent as coal plants
were phased out between 2006 and 2014, as an example to be avoided.
Keith Stewart, a senior energy strategist at Greenpeace Canada, said
Saskatchewan’s plan is ridiculous and Canada’s international coal
phase-out push will be undermined if McKenna allows it.
“That shouldn’t even be on the table,” Stewart said.
Nova Scotia, which uses coal for almost 60 per cent of its electricity,
is also negotiating an equivalency agreement with Ottawa to get credit
for cutting emissions elsewhere that would allow it to continue to use
coal-power as well. Like Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia anticipates needing
coal into the 2040s.
A spokesperson for the New Brunswick government said Thursday that
getting rid of its only coal plant by 2030 would be ideal but that will
only happen if Canada comes up with “adequate support” to minimize
impacts on both power bills and the economy. If not, the province will
aim for a coal phase-out by 2040.
About 10 per cent of electricity in Canada now comes from burning coal,
half of what it was 15 years ago largely because of Ontario.
Electricity accounted for 84 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions
in 2015, and coal is responsible for almost three-quarters of that.
Eliminating coal and replacing it entirely with non-emitting renewables
would get Canada about one-third of the way to its 2030 emissions
reduction target.