Sask. goals in annual climate resilience report 'unambitious': environmental experts
Province says none of the 22 indicators are at 'poor' status
The Saskatchewan government released its 2022 climate resilience report on Wednesday, touting improvements across a range of goals, but environmental experts and advocates say the targets are not ambitious enough.
The report has been released annually since 2019. This year's details 22 measures and goals to cope with climate change and the impacts on the province's economic, environmental and infrastructure systems. None of this year's goals were listed as having a "poor" status.
"These results demonstrate the province continues to make progress in building resilience to climate change," the report said, with 18 measures listed as "good" and four as "fair."
The number of goals being tracked is down from 25 in last year's report, with some of the older ones being removed or replaced.
"The reports have also identified further action to ensure our province adapts and thrives in a changing climate," provincial Environment Minister Dana Skoropad wrote in the report.
But environmental experts and advocates say the goals aren't lofty enough and fall short of making meaningful change.
Peter Prebble, the former policy director for the Saskatchewan Environmental Society and a current board member, said Saskatchewan's goals wouldn't meet international standards and the target for protected lands in the province is half of the national standard, which is 25 per cent by 2025.
Prebble said the province also needs to meet national greenhouse gas emission standards, which call for a 40 per cent reduction compared to 2005 to be completed by 2030.
"The province is making some progress on adaptation to climate change, but needs to become much more ambitious with respect to its setting targets and implementing measures aimed at greenhouse gas emission reduction," Prebble said.
He criticized the government's omission of a provincewide goal for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, the report focused on reduced emissions from specific areas like the electricity sector, government-owned buildings and those associated with oil.
Prebble said it's missing goals for sectors like residential building, transportation, municipal and agriculture.
Despite the omissions, he said the province has made some noticeable improvements, like in the emissions associated with oil.
He said he is disappointed to see the targets for SaskPower's energy efficiency and conservation program were among the goals removed or replaced compared to previous resilience reports, despite Saskatchewan being among the leading regions in power usage per capita.
Focus not on combating climate change
David Sauchyn, director of the Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative and an environmental studies professor at the University of Regina, said the province should be credited for producing these reports. He's unaware of any other provinces that do so.
But, he says, "it's quite easy to question their methods."
"This isn't the report on how to combat climate change, this is a report on how we achieve resilience to climate change," he told CBC's The Morning Edition's guest host, Peter Mills.
Even then, he said some of these targets don't contribute to resilience to climate change.
Key highlights
Natural systems:
The province looks to protect nearly eight million hectares of land (about 12 per cent of the province's land mass) by 2025. Just under 10 per cent of the province's land mass is currently protected.
Physical infrastructure:
Saskatchewan wants to generate 50 per cent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030. In 2021, about 25 per cent of the province's energy is from renewable sources.
Read the full report here:
Economic Sustainability:
By 2025, the government wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 6.4 megatonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent). In 2021, the emissions dropped by 15 per cent from 2020, though the province attributes the drop to reduced oil production during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Community preparedness:
About 79 per cent of northern communities at-risk for wildfires have operational pre-plans, with a goal of all 84 communities having plans by 2030.
Human well-being:
The province wants to reduced average municipal water consumption by increasing efficiency, which it says it has done.
WATCH | Saskatchewan Environmental Society makes emission-reducing recommendations for government
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With files from CBC Saskatchewan's The Morning Edition