Would It Help To Dump Alberta?

The G20's Climate Transparency group issued its annual report this week grading all member countries on their climate performance and found them all wanting. The report said only about half the countries are on track to meet their targets for cutting emissions by 2030 and those targets are much too low in any case. And who were the worst performers? Australia, South Korea and—no surprise—Canada.

We are indeed slackers on the global warming front. Not only will our existing plans leave us short of our 2030 goal, but that target is only half what it needs to be. The report gave us high marks for introducing a carbon tax and for implementing tougher environmental reviews for major projects like pipelines and mines, but criticized us for approving the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (for the second time). The report noted we are among global leaders in phasing out coal power but lag on energy use and emissions from cars and buildings. Only two other countries use more energy per dollar of economic production.

That brings us to Alberta, the pollution province. It has 70 percent more emissions than Ontario with less than a third of the population, and whereas Ontario's are declining Alberta's are rapidly increasing. Furthermore, it contributes almost 40 percent of Canada's emissions with only 12 percent of the population.

There have murmurings about separation in the province, so what if we gave it a nudge and sent it on its way. Our emissions would drop 40 percent overnight and we'd be well on our way to meeting our goals. But would we be any better off?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. Alberta would still be out there, prolifically pumping out greenhouse gasses, perhaps the world's highest per capita emitter. And those emissions would continue to contribute to global warming every bit as much as they did before. The fact is we are all in this together. Global warming doesn't recognizes borders. We have to deal with this challenge as human beings, not as members of our various tribes: Albertans, Canadians, Americans, Nigerians, Japanese, whatever.

So we have to deal with Albertans' excessive emissions whether they're in or out. They make us look bad, true, but the answer is not to dump them, but rather to help them kick the habit of high fossil fuel dependence. And that, considering the province's belligerent, reactionary premier, is one hell of a challenge. But it must be taken on. In the meantime, our reputation as a climate change slacker will persist.