On Nov. 23, 2015, Ontario permanently banned coal-firing for electricity production, in hopes of relying on more renewable resources, in light of climate change concerns.
The Ending Coal for Cleaner Air Act (ECCAA) dictates that facilities are prohibited from burning coal to generate electricity, because of the environmental repercussions of this practice.The conditions of the act were prefaced with the intention to curb the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, and to ultimately reduce the effects of climate change. The Ontario government has also set maximum fines for violators of the conditions of the act. According to CleanTech Canada, coal-fired electricity produces as much as 30 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions annually. This emission rate is the equivalent of seven million cars. The Ontario government is hoping to reduce these carbon emissions through slowly phasing out the use of non-renewable resources.
The ban of coal-fired electricity is a significant step towards combating climate change, because it is one of the leading causes of greenhouse gases in Canada. Through the new legislation, the Government of Ontario hopes to fight climate change with initiatives aiming to minimize greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The legislation was also passed in anticipation of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, where Canada is considered one of the leading forces in the climate change debate, due to our dedication to the cause.
“Provincial efforts are critical to Canada’s success to fight climate change and Ontario will work closely with the new federal government to fully leverage all possible opportunities to continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Glen Murray, Ontario’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, in a Nov. 23, 2015 news release. “Ontario’s ban on coal-fired power is an important success story that I will be proud to share with world leaders at the United Nations’ Conference of the Parties in Paris.”
The Paris climate conference began on Nov. 30, 2015.
In recent years, Canada has been committed to reducing the effects of climate change. One example of this commitment was the efforts put forth to tackle the smog problem in Ontario. In the past 10 years, smog days were reduced from an annual average of 53 to zero.
The reduction of smog in Ontario is largely attributed to the decreased use of non-renewable resources. In response to this, the Government of Ontario reported that the use of coal was eliminated from 19 Ontario Power Generation stations in 2014. Additionally, more than 90 per cent of the power in Ontario is now renewable. The Ontario government hopes to see more reliance on the renewable resources that Canada has to offer, such as water and nuclear energy.
Despite these promising figures, Canada still has a long way to go in fighting climate change. According to CNN News, Canada is among the top three contributors to carbon emissions, along with the United States and India. All three of these countries have leaders present to speak at the UN climate change conference taking place in Paris.