Dr. Louise Comeau, our Conservation Council’s Climate Change and Energy Solutions Director spoke with Terry Seguin on Information Morning Fredericton on the 22nd about the federal government’s announcement to phase-out coal-fired electricity by 2030.
“You need to think about the entire electricity system and look at how do we manage the transition to a clean electricity system that will generate electricity for the long-term,” said Comeau.
The plan will accelerate the current time-table the four provinces that still burn coal for electricity (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) have transform their electricity systems to non-emitting sources that comply with a federal regulation announced yesterday by Catherine McKenna, the federal Environment and Climate Change Minister.
McKenna told a news conference Monday that tackling climate change is both a challenge and a huge opportunity that will attract the investments required to build a clean-energy economy.
“There will be federal resources to help offset any transition costs. The federal environmental minister made that clear yesterday… so we need to be calm. We need to manage this carefully and properly., but we can manage this and there will be support to do it.”
“This is going generate a lot of economic activity as we transition to clean electricity.”
Read the full story here.
Read CBC’s [print] coverage of CCNB’s take on the phase-out here.