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Minister admits Yukon government’s climate plan is ‘not enough’ to meet climate target

Mines, Energy and Resources Minister John Streicker still committed to hitting greenhouse gas goal
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Nares and Tagish lakes are seen from the flanks of Montana Mountain on March 24. Mines, Energy and Resources Minister John Streicker told the Yukon Legislative Assembly on April 5 that he is committed to reach a climate target of 45 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030. (Jim Elliot/Yukon News)

Mines, Energy and Resources Minister John Streicker admits that although the Yukon government’s climate plan won’t be enough to hit climate targets, even with 61 additional recommendations from the Climate Leadership Council, he is committed to achieving those goals.

“Here I am, Madam Deputy Speaker, on my feet, making the commitment that we are going to reduce our emissions by 45 per cent by 2030,” he told the Yukon Legislative Assembly on April 5.

“The actions that we have in place right now in Our Clean Future are not enough. That’s why we asked the Climate Leadership Council to sit down and work with us. They made 61 recommendations. We worked through those recommendations. When we add them in, it’s not enough. We will continue to look for additional ways to make that commitment. That’s our goal. We are committed to it.”

Streicker didn’t elaborate on how to get there during question period on April 5.

“We don’t have actions or recommendations that get us to 45 per cent yet, but Our Clean Future was always meant to be an adaptive strategy that we would work to continue to improve on, and some of the actions will move faster than others. So, we will continue to work on the strategy,” he said.

“We understand the urgency.”

About half a year following the council’s September 2022 release of Climate Shot 2030, its report on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Yukon NDP MLA for Whitehorse Centre Lane Tredger pressed Streicker on what scientists, the United Nations and the council have been saying.

In the report, it took the 12 individuals on the council nine months to arrive at the latest recommendations crafted specifically for the territorial government.

“This escalation of climate action commitment — 45 per cent compared to the 30 per cent reduction set out in Our Clean Future — poses many challenges,” reads the report.

“It also presents the opportunity to reconsider our day-to-day lives, communities and society.”

For example, the council calls for explicitly factoring carbon emissions into budgeting and decision-making and positioning climate change at the centre of government decision-making structures and processes.

The United Nations’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 2018 report indicated that carbon dioxide emissions need to be cut 45 per cent by 2030, compared to 2010 levels.

“The latest science from the IPCC released earlier this year uses 2019 as a baseline, indicating that [greenhouse gas] emissions need to be cut 43 per cent by 2030,” reads an Oct. 27, 2022, release from UN Climate Change.

“This is critical to meeting the Paris Agreement goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 C by the end of this century and avoiding the worst impacts of climate change, including more frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves and rainfall.”

Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com



Dana Hatherly

About the Author: Dana Hatherly

I’m the legislative reporter for the Yukon News.
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