The enormous expense to recover from fires, floods, powerful storms, and coastal erosion should be an incentive for government action to accelerate its phase-out of coal and greatly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
Recent articles in the press indicate proposals that will move us toward net zero emissions and take us further away from the benefits of achieving this goal.
Cloe Logan, writing for the National Observer, reports on Canada’s only underground coal mine coming back into production in Cape Breton.
After one full year, the mine is expected to produce enough coal to spew about eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when it is burned. The three million tonnes of coal the mine will produce a year will create as many greenhouse gas emissions as the yearly energy use of over a million homes — more than the entire population of Nova Scotia. When Marshall hears those statistics, she thinks of the extraction of natural resources by large corporations coupled with the restriction of Indigenous Peoples’ access to traditional food sources, medicine and land. It’s the “continued poisoning of the people of Unama'ki, which is Cape Breton,” she said. (Logan, 2022)
A NS Government Press Release quotes Premier Tim Houston.“Setting this target sends a clear signal to the world that Nova Scotia is open for business and becoming an international leader in offshore wind and green hydrogen development.”
The most promising use for offshore wind energy is generating renewable electricity to produce green hydrogen for use in the province and for export. Green hydrogen is a clean alternative to fossil fuels because it does not create greenhouse gas emissions. Offshore wind is also another option to help Nova Scotia and Canada meet future clean electricity needs.
The Province also announced that it is developing a green hydrogen action plan to be released in 2023. The plan will outline the role green hydrogen can play in the transition to clean energy and the steps the government will take to build this industry, which will help Nova Scotia reach net-zero emissions by 2050. (Province Sets Offshore Wind Target, 2022)
Joan Baxter reports on EverWind Fuels’ 'green hydrogen' project that may depend on sketchy carbon calculations and an enormous public subsidy.
Ralph Torrie, research director at Corporate Knights, has co-authored two recent reports on how Nova Scotia can accelerate its phase-out of coal and greatly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions throughout its electricity and energy systems to tackle the climate emergency and reach net zero by 2050. Torrie prepared one report for the Ecology Action Centre in 2020, and the second was a white paper he co-authored with EfficiencyOne in 2021.
Both reports found that the most immediate and effective steps Nova Scotia could take on a “net-zero pathway” were in energy efficiency, electrification, and decarbonisation. They also stressed the importance of a just energy transition to eliminate energy poverty in the province. (Baxter, 2022)
Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations, has recently expressed the opinion that our world is in big trouble. He urges the nations of the world to develop common solutions to common problems — grounded in goodwill, trust, and the rights shared by every human being.
Our world is in big trouble.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) September 20, 2022
Let’s develop common solutions to common problems — grounded in goodwill, trust, and the rights shared by every human being.
Let’s work as one, as a coalition of the world. As united nations. pic.twitter.com/roRwCwUoay
This goal can be translated to action in Nova Scotia that addresses the climate change mitigation that we can begin now based on available technology for electrification, energy efficiency, and decarbonization.
References
Baxter, J. (2022, September 20). The 'hydrogen hyperbole epidemic' comes to Nova Scotia. Halifax Examiner. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/province-house/the-hydrogen-hyperbole-epidemic-comes-to-nova-scotia/
Logan, C. (2022, September 16). Canada's only underground coal mine is back in business — and emissions rules don't apply. National Observer. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/09/16/investigations/canadas-only-underground-coal-mine-back-business-emissions
Province Sets Offshore Wind Target. (2022, September 20). Government of Nova Scotia. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20220920003
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