In the long run we’re all green: The danger of ‘net zero’ becoming a climate delay tactic
. For some, it’s morphing from a truly ambitious target to a much vaguer slogan – one so diffuse that political and business leaders can at once claim devotion to net zero and at the same time advocate for more fossil fuels.
There’s a big difference between saying the words and doing something about it. Think of the Kyoto Protocol in the 1990s and its failed 2012 targets. While 2050 isn’t far away, it’s far enough that current leaders can comfortably be in favour while knowing they will be long gone when the date arrives.
Some large emitters are taking action. In 2021, soon after the IEA net zero roadmap, a coalition of oil sands companiesnet zero. They pledged to cut 22 megatonnes of emissions by 2030 – oil sands were at 85 MT in 2021 – and last year said they would spend $24-billion to do it. The bulk of the money, including billions in public subsidies, is planned for carbon capture.
The 2030 goal is essential. It’s the key interim milestone, and the basis of the 2015 Paris Agreement, a landmark global treaty. No one can credibly say net zero 2050 without a concrete 2030 goal. That’s another problem in Alberta. The province in April put outA promise of net zero cannot be used as a sort of get-out-of-jail-free card, with a feigned fealty to climate action but, in reality, a plan to put off the work.
Lack of robust action is a problem across Canada. Saskatchewan, like Alberta, insists it is impossible to get to 100 per cent clean power by 2035. But fully clean power by 2035 is a necessary step to reach economywide net zero by 2050.
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