Michael Brune on Alberta's Climate Leadership Plan

Climate Leadership Plan speech and transcript.

 

Home of the Athabasca tar sands, the western Canadian Province plans to phase in a carbon tax at 30 CAD per ton, replace coal electricity with renewable electricity, and set an emissions limit on tar sands which generate approximately 70 megatons of carbon a year.

 

See below for Executive Director Michael Brune's response; also published in Sierra Club press release, "Alberta Announces Historic Climate Commitment".

 

 

Michael Brune penned the following response. Author of Coming Clean -- Breaking America's Addiction to Oil and Coal; Brune writes for Sierra Club blog Coming Clean, the Huffington Post, and Daily Kos.

 

“Today, the world is seeing that bold and decisive leadership to tackle the climates crisis and grow the clean energy economy can emerge from the home of the dirty and dangerous tar sands industry. Premier Rachel Notley’s steps to transition Alberta beyond coal, limit tar sands emissions, and dramatically increase wind and solar power further prove it is impossible to ignore both the obligation to act on climate and the undeniable opportunities clean energy offers across the globe -- and especially in oil country.

 

In the United States, the Sierra Club is proud to have helped slow the expansion of tar sands infrastructure and ensure that over 200 dirty coal plants are slated for retirement, and Alberta’s announcement today is a welcome sign that the climate movement is continuing to grow... Just last week, the United Kingdom announced it was also transitioning fully off of coal and Canada’s Prime Minister Trudeau issued guidance to ban oil tankers off the North Coast of British Columbia. This commitment and leadership shows it is not only possible to move beyond dirty fuels in the United States and around the world -- it is inevitable.

 

Next month, every member nation of the UN will convene in Paris to finalize an international agreement to act on climate. Already, more than 160 countries, including more than 100 developing countries, have submitted plans for cutting carbon pollution and boosting the global clean energy economy. Alberta’s announcement ads an exclamation point to this extraordinary momentum.

 

Meanwhile, the effort to protect the health of our communities and our families from dangerous fossil fuels will go on in Alberta and here in the U.S.. We will continue to stand with our First Nations and other community allies in their efforts to stop the toxic effects of tar sands extraction. And, we will continue to work with partners and allies at home and across the globe to transition beyond dirty fossil fuels toward a strong, fair, and just economy powered by 100% clean energy.”

 

Michael Brune,

 

Follow responses to this historic climate commitment on twitter with the following Alberta politics search terms:

#ABLeg #ABPoli #ABGov