Q: Recently, a major scientific report warned of increasingly extreme heat waves, droughts and flooding, and a key temperature limit being broken in just over a decade. Scientists say it’s “a code red for humanity.” What tangible ways will your party address climate change in the short- and long-term?
Nick Clayton, Green: The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sixth report is a peer-reviewed meta-study of the work of hundreds of scientists across 66 countries, signed by all 195 signatories of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement (including Canada). It states that climate change is here, it is the result of “human influence,” and already having devastating effects. The heat dome over western North America this summer, for example, was statistically impossible without climate change.
The good news is that if humans can influence climate in one direction, we can also course correct. Climate action is an opportunity for economic stimulus, building resilience and health into communities, and promoting social justice.
The Green Deal is the only plan that will effectively address the climate crisis, reducing emissions 60 per cent by 2030, helping make Canada a leader in the no-carbon economy, leaving no one behind. We would begin immediately, using existing, proven, scalable solutions.
Some practical examples of our plan include funding for home-energy-efficiency retrofits, projected to employ 800,000 in Ontario alone, building a comprehensive network of electric vehicle charging stations, building a national energy corridor between provinces, greening of electrical grids with solar and wind, training for trades in emerging green industries, and the restoration of natural areas.
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