Environment Minister issues clarification after saying province ‘on target’ with climate goals

How can a fossil fuel burning power plant be expected to operate while meeting a “net zero” emissions requirement?

That’s one of the questions that remains after New Brunswick’s Liberal government announced conditional approval for a planned 500-megawatt generating station in Tantramar.

The decision came against a backdrop of increasingly urgent warnings from climate scientists, including a new report from the UN Environmental Programme saying that cuts to emissions worldwide haven’t been fast enough to prevent global warming from crossing a crucial 1.5 C threshold in the coming years.

At a media conference announcing the results of the environmental impact assessment on Aug. 28, Environment Minister Gilles LePage assured reporters that New Brunswick is on target to meet its emissions targets.

In fact, a report quietly published by his own department just one week earlier states that New Brunswick “is not currently on track to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.” The information was first reported by the CBC.

In response to queries from the NB Media Co-op, the Minister partially walked back his comments, clarifying that New Brunswick is currently on target to meet its legislated target for 2030 limiting greenhouse gas emissions to 10.7 megatonnes.

In a statement, LePage said that “efforts are underway” to meet the 2050 target, including a condition requiring the so-called Renewables Integration Grid Security (RIGS) power plant to have a “net zero” plan.

‘Net zero’ by 2050

The conditional approval for the RIGS facility requires Missouri-based ProEnergy to submit a “strategy and timeline for meeting net zero emissions by 2050” after one year of operation.

The province defines net zero as a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions “to as close to zero as possible and counter-balancing any remaining emissions through removals such as natural carbon sinks or emerging technologies.”

How does ProEnergy intend to meet that target? The company won’t comment or grant interviews until “permitting and regulatory requirements have been fully met,” according to VP Marketing Francis Kusznir.

However, meeting that goal “may involve purchasing offset credits to comply with federal regulations,” according to Jennifer MacNeil, a provincial government spokesperson.

Carbon credits allow companies to release a certain amount of greenhouse gases; if they emit less, their excess credits can be sold. On the other hand, companies can compensate for their own excess emissions by purchasing offsets, paying for projects meant to reduce or remove carbon from the atmosphere.

Carbon offsets are controversial. The Carbon Rush, a 2012 documentary by Canadian filmmaker Amy Miller, revealed how carbon credit schemes have funded projects contributing to ecological and socioeconomic problems around the world. In one case detailed in the film, poor workers in India who earned a meagre living by collecting recyclable waste were effectively displaced by a company that instead incinerated the waste to produce electricity.

Beverly Gingras, executive director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, said that allowing RIGS to purchase offsets to meet its net zero conditions “should not be encouraged,” since it would allow the company to pay to pollute instead of reducing emissions at the source.

“Offsets do not eliminate the plant’s direct greenhouse gas emissions or the local air pollution caused by burning natural gas and diesel,” she said. “Their climate benefits can also be difficult to verify, may not be permanent, and may rely on emission reductions that would have occurred anyway.”

She said offsets should be only be considered “as a tightly limited last resort for genuinely unavoidable residual emissions.”

The province defines net zero as a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions “to as close to zero as possible and counter-balancing any remaining emissions through removals such as natural carbon sinks or emerging technologies.”

The RIGS project will emit 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually, according to ProEnergy. Both ProEnergy and NB Power have stated that the project will stabilize New Brunswick’s electricity grid and serve as backup when renewable energy sources are unavailable, ultimately reducing greenhouse gases.

However, some opponents of the plant find that claim hard to swallow. With the effects of the climate crisis increasingly evident, Gingras said, the province should instead ramp up wind and solar generation, using utility-scale batteries to store excess energy to release during periods of peak consumption.

Minister LePage issues clarification

During the Aug. 28 news conference, the NB Media Co-op asked Minister LePage to respond to critics who question the wisdom of building another fossil-fuel plant at the current stage of the climate crisis.

“I can assure you that right now we are on target with our net zero objectives,” LePage said.

“Of course, things change,” he continued, adding that emissions at the RIGS plant will be “kept to a minimum” and that “if they go beyond that, we will have to reassess, and they will have to submit another plan.”

The CBC later revealed that a report published by the province just one week earlier contradicted the Minister, at least in part.

“New Brunswick is expected to reach our 2030 emissions target but is not currently on track to achieve net zero emissions by 2050,” the report states.

That 53-page report was released without fanfare just days before Premier Susan Holt announced a review of the province’s moratorium on shale gas fracking. Fracking produces natural gas, which is primarily composed of methane, a major contributor to the deepening climate crisis.

READ MORE: New Brunswick to review fracking moratorium, prompting pushback from environmentalists

In response to a request for an interview with Minister LePage, the government provided a statement attributed to him.

“To clarify, our government is on track to meet our 2030 greenhouse gas emission reduction targets,” he said. That’s a reference to New Brunswick’s goal of reducing emissions by 46 per cent compared to 2005 levels.

“Since 2005, New Brunswick has successfully reduced emissions by 36 per cent, a greater percentage reduction than most other provinces or territories in Canada,” he continued.

He acknowledged, however, that “policy gaps remain to reach our 2050 net zero target.”

Citing “economic headwinds,” he said the government “must ensure our province is competitive and integrating climate considerations into all decisions.”

That’s why the conditional approval included a condition requiring the proponent “to develop a net zero plan to reduce greenhouse gas emission,” he said. (You can read the full statement here.)

For her part, Gingras called on the government to change course, saying that the province may fail to meet even its 2030 goal if new gas-fired power plants come online before then.

“We already have proven solutions to reduce emissions,” she said. “What is missing is the political will and sustained effort to put them into action.”

David Gordon Koch is a staff reporter with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, via the Local Journalism Initiative.