VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – The Liberal Canadian federal government on Monday announced accelerated plans to transition the economy to renewable-energy sources, saying it would aim to phase out coal-fired plants by 2030.

According to Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna, coal-fired electricity generation in Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia accounts for 10% of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

“Tackling climate change is both a challenge and a huge opportunity,” McKenna told a news conference Monday.

“This opportunity will attract the investments required to build the clean-energy economy that will position Canada for great success in generations to come.”

The action aims to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions by a further five megatonnes by 2030, the equivalent of taking 1.3-million cars off the road.

Under the plan, provinces can choose to phase out coal entirely, and replace it with lower-emitting sources – which is what Alberta is planning to do – or they can use carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, McKenna said.

She added that Canada is blessed with an abundance of hydro, wind and solar opportunities and that 80% of Canada’s electricity already comes from non-emitting sources. “This has already positioned us as a global leader. We can always do better, though,” she stated.

France, Britain, the Netherlands, Austria and Denmark have all announced accelerated coal phase-outs, she noted.

STRINGENT STANDARD
According to government information, Canada’s existing regulations apply a performance standard to new coal-fired electricity-generation units and to units that have reached the end of their useful life. Under current regulations, "end of useful life" is generally defined as 50 years of operation from the unit's commissioning date.

However, the regulatory amendments announced Monday will ensure that all traditional coal-fired units are now going to be required to meet a stringent performance standard of 420 t of carbon dioxide per gigawatt hour (tCO₂/GWh) by no later than 2030, which will accelerate the phase-out of traditional coal-fired units across Canada.

Traditional units are those that do not use CCS, which traps carbon dioxide and stores it so it does not affect the atmosphere.

To support the transition from coal to cleaner sources of generation, government is also developing performance standards for natural gas-fired electricity. The requirements will ensure that new natural gas-fired units are built using efficient technology and will set clear parameters around the use of boilers converted from coal to run on natural gas.

The regulations will cover new and modified natural gas-fired combustion engines that sell or distribute more than 33% of their potential electricity output to the electrical grid.

Yearly performance standards for large combustion engines producing more than 100 MW will be set at 420 tCO₂/GWh. A less stringent standard of 500 tCO₂/GWh will be considered for smaller combustion engines of equal or less than 100 MW. Boiler units converted from coal to natural gas will also have to meet a performance standard of 550 tCO₂/GWh for a 15-year period or until 2045, whichever comes first, after which a standard of 420 tCO₂/GWh will then apply.

COP 22 FRAMEWORK
McKenna, announced Saturday that Canada had become one of the first countries to submit its ‘Mid-century long-term low-greenhouse-gas development strategy’, at the twenty-second Conference of the Parties (COP 22) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Marrakech, Morocco, from 7 to 18 November.

“The global economy is moving towards cleaner, more sustainable growth. Canada's mid-century strategy outlines how we will create the conditions for innovation and long-term growth, keeping Canadian businesses competitive and helping grow the middle class.” McKenna stated.

The mid-century strategy describes various pathways for innovative and creative solutions aligned with Canada’s commitment to the international goal of holding the global average temperature rise to well below 2 °C above preindustrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C, as called for in the Paris Agreement, which called on signatories to develop long-term, low-greenhouse-gas development strategies by 2020.

The strategy focuses on meeting climate-change objectives and enabling growth, requiring significant long-term investments in infrastructure to support transformation to a low-carbon economy. Canada has examined an emissions-abatement pathway consistent with net emissions falling by at least 80% in 2050, from 2005 levels.

The federal government said it was working with provincial and territorial governments and with indigenous peoples to develop a ‘made-in-Canada’ plan to meet or exceed its stated 2030 emissions-reduction target and to grow the economy.

According to the International Energy Agency, about 38% of the required global emissions reductions associated with a 2 °C pathway could be met through energy efficiency improvements.