Premier Dennis King is hoping P.E.I. can reduce its climate emissions to net zero by 2040.
In an announcement at UPEI’s Sustainable Design Engineering building on Tuesday, King said he plans to make P.E.I. the first province in Canada to reach net zero emissions.
A framework document presented at the announcement defined net zero to mean the province would produce “no more [greenhouse gases] than our land, ocean and technologies can absorb.”
The document says the province would achieve these savings by both reducing emissions and offsetting emissions but included no details which method would provide for the majority of emissions reductions. The document also included no details on the estimated cost of reducing these emissions.
"We need to be creative, we need to be bold and we need to be collaborative," King said.
"Over the next 10 years, we will reduce our reliance on imported fossil fuels and increase renewable energy use."
The federal government has set a target of reaching net zero nationally by 2050. In spring 2019, P.E.I.’s legislature passed a target of reducing emissions by 40 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030. The amended targets were introduced by the Opposition Greens.
Myers said he wants to see all electric power used on P.E.I. derived from renewable sources by 2030.
He touted the recently announced plans to replace Sherwood Elementary School using net zero emission plans. The replacement will cost $23 million. All future school construction projects will involve net zero design, Myers said.
The province also plans to electrify its fleet of vehicles.
But Myers also acknowledged that there were many unknowns to the plan. He did not specify interim targets for reducing emissions from transportation – the biggest source of GHGs on P.E.I. — by 2025 or 2030.
"The actual answer, we don't have at this point. But we plan to have that plan in place," Myers said.
King acknowledged carbon pricing will be a part of plans to reduce emissions but offered no specifics on how much pricing might increase. Negotiations with the federal government are ongoing.
King also downplayed the timing of the announcement, held two weeks before a high-stakes byelection in Charlottetown-Winsloe.
“I understand that many in the media look for these types of connections,” King said.
He said departments have been working on climate plans for nine months. He said the mandate letter for Minister Myers included specific directions on this.
Jameson, the minister whose ministerial mandate letter included the most specific references to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, did not speak during Tuesday’s announcement and left as media questions were being asked.
Jameson’s department will not be leading the 2040 net zero effort. The province’s lead staffer on the effort will be Derek Ellis from the Department of Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy.
Robert Henderson, the Liberal critic for Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy, said he had no criticisms of the premier’s “lofty goals,” but also noted the dearth of details.
"How do you achieve that? And really this document has nothing on that," Henderson said.
Henderson also suggested the timing of the announcement raised questions.
Green Opposition Leader Peter Bevan-Baker also welcomed the goal of net zero by 2040. But he also pointed to lack of concrete policies and initiatives to achieve these targets.
"I don't think there's a target that anybody has hit going back to the 1980s when climate change was first recognized as an issue," Bevan-Baker said.
"Targets are useful. But alone they obviously do nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
Bevan-Baker also said the timing of Tuesday’s press conference, coupled with the lack of concrete spending commitments, raised his eyebrows.
"That does raise that spectre of was this largely political theatre," Bevan-Baker said.
