> Greenhouse gas cuts won’t meet targets - study
Greenhouse gas cuts won’t meet targets - study
Document Tools
Related Links
June 12, 2007
Ottawa’s current policy proposals on greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction will fall short of the country’s reduction targets for 2020, according to a pair of Simon Fraser University researchers.
That shortfall will further hinder future governments in meeting the targets set out for 2050.
Those are the conclusions of a study by SFU professor Mark Jaccard and graduate student Nic Rivers, who say more work is needed to produce effective policies.
The study, carried out by SFU’s Energy and Materials Group, headed by Jaccard, is being released today by the C.D.Howe Institute. An ebrief and working paper are available online (see above).
The researchers assessed currently proposed policies using an energy-economy simulation model, which monitors energy supply and demand as well as production and use, while simultaneously simulating the effects of the policies intended to reduce GHG. They estimate a shortfall of the government’s reduction target for 2020 by nearly 200 megatonnes.
The government maintains that its proposed policies will reduce emissions by 20 per cent by 2020. The researchers say that since 1988, five major policy initiatives have failed to curb the growth of GHG emissions in Canada.
“Until governments are ready to put a charge or regulated cap on all emissions in a given economy, leading researchers around the world agree that governments will continue to miss their well-publicized reduction targets," says Jaccard.
That shortfall will further hinder future governments in meeting the targets set out for 2050.
Those are the conclusions of a study by SFU professor Mark Jaccard and graduate student Nic Rivers, who say more work is needed to produce effective policies.
The study, carried out by SFU’s Energy and Materials Group, headed by Jaccard, is being released today by the C.D.Howe Institute. An ebrief and working paper are available online (see above).
The researchers assessed currently proposed policies using an energy-economy simulation model, which monitors energy supply and demand as well as production and use, while simultaneously simulating the effects of the policies intended to reduce GHG. They estimate a shortfall of the government’s reduction target for 2020 by nearly 200 megatonnes.
The government maintains that its proposed policies will reduce emissions by 20 per cent by 2020. The researchers say that since 1988, five major policy initiatives have failed to curb the growth of GHG emissions in Canada.
“Until governments are ready to put a charge or regulated cap on all emissions in a given economy, leading researchers around the world agree that governments will continue to miss their well-publicized reduction targets," says Jaccard.