Canada’s provincial and territorial premiers have some choices to make as they flesh out the details of the Canadian Energy Strategy they announced last week, says The Energy Mix curator Mitchell Beer. “The premiers have an opportunity now to cut carbon pollution, create jobs, and build a homegrown cleantech sector,” he writes. “If they succeed, their 2015 plan will give Canadians a coherent vision of a low-carbon energy future, just before a federal election determines Canada’s position at global climate negotiations later in the year.” Beer suggests seven steps to a robust strategy: Adopt an 80% greenhouse gas reduction by 2050 as the end goal of the plan, enact carbon taxes while eliminating fossil fuel subsidies, treat climate response as industrial strategy, put energy efficiency ahead of new supply, scale climate solutions to the scope of the problem, prepare the Canadian economy for the transition ahead, and be wary of “silver bullets” like carbon capture and storage that may not be viable by mid-century.
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