Nova Scotia publishes plan aimed at cutting emissions, reaching climate goals

Nova Scotia released a wide-ranging plan on Dec. 7, aimed at helping it meet climate goals enshrined in legislation last year.

The province has legislated an overall goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 53 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

The new plan includes 68 measures, including a new pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from electricity by 90 per cent by 2035 and to reduce home heating oil use by at least 20 per cent by 2030.

“These 68 actions will help us be responsive and prepared for changes in the climate that will impact us in order to avoid further damages and losses,” Environment Minister Tim Halman told a news conference. “This plan is a starting point for a new focus in Nova Scotia on climate action.”

Passed in November 2021, the Environmental Goals and Climate Change Reduction Act also pledged to have 80 per cent of the province’s energy supplied by renewable sources by 2030 and to have zero-emission vehicles account for 30 per cent of vehicle sales by 2030.

To help with vehicle emissions, the new government plan pledges to build more electric vehicle charging stations across the province and to increase the number of zero-emissions vehicles and e-bikes through rebates and public education programs.

However, officials acknowledged that negotiations with the federal government aimed at improving vehicle availability in the Atlantic region will be key to making battery-powered cars a widespread reality in the province.

Liberal environment critic Iain Rankin called the plan “solid” but said a “big hole” is the lack of a plan for decommissioning the province’s coal-fired power plants. Electricity generation from coal and other fossil fuels represented 43.4 per cent of the province’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2020.

“There’s no feasible explanation on how they’ll decommission even one coal plant, let alone all eight of them,” Rankin said.