October 7, 2000
Sask. Canada's worst in fighting climate change: report
The Saskatoon StarPhoenix
REGINA - An oil-patch environment group says Saskatchewan has the worst
record in Canada on fighting climate change.
Earlier this week, the Pembina Institute released a 54-page report that
ranked Saskatchewan at the bottom of Canada's five largest
greenhouse-gas-emitting provinces.
The Alberta-based organization said Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario,
Quebec and Saskatchewan have all failed to develop a coherent strategy
to address the climate change issue.
However, the Saskatchewan goverment's overall score of 20.5 out of 100
puts it at the bottom of the list, Pembina Institute spokesperson
Robert Hornung said.
"It's just a general lack of engagement on this issue," he said.
"Saskatchewan doesn't even have a public education plan on climate
change."
The group rated the provinces in nine areas: transportation,
electricity, buildings, industry, emissions trading, government
operations, public education, technology development and other sources
of green-house gas emissions. In most of those areas, Saskatchewan
received low marks.
The report said Alberta's and Saskatchewan's technology support "is
directed at ways to try and make fossil fuels more palatable in a
low-carbon economy."
Hornung said instead of that approach, the province should be putting
more resources into developing alternative energy sources.
Under the Kyoto climate change protocols, Canada has pledged to reduce
its emissions of greenhouse gases six per cent below 1990 levels by the
year 2012.
The report says that unless steps are taken, Saskatchewan's greenhouse
gas emissions in 2010 could be more than 40 per cent higher than they
were in 1990.
The report gives Saskatchewan government credit on several scores,
including its $3-million investment in the International Test Centre
for Carbon Dioxide Capture, grants for ethanol producers, soil
conservation programs, and a program to improve energy efficiency of
government-owned buildings by 20 per cent.
B.C. scored highest of the five provinces assessed, with 30.5 per cent.
It was followed by Ontario at 27.5 per cent, Alberta at 26.5 per cent
and Quebec at 22 per cent.
