After many years of build up, the province’s climate change plan will be released Friday. But the question remains whether it will live up to its lofty expectations.
The Ecology Action Centre sent out a news release Thursday saying the plan will have to be drastic for Nova Scotia to meet its goals.
The province’s Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act states the province will “demonstrate international leadership by having one of the cleanest and most sustainable environments in the world by 2020.”
According to the EAC, the province has “a long way to go before achieving this goal.”
They say the province needs to revamp its infrastructure for a low-carbon economy, instate hard greenhouse gas caps and fund sustainable transportation, among other things.
The new environment minister, David Morse, said he can’t say whether the EAC will be happy with the plan. But he is.
“They’re going to have to answer that question, but there was extensive public consultation that went into the plan,” he said.
“This is just huge. Nova Scotia has a role to play, just like every other jurisdiction in the world. And we’re going to play our role.
The plan has been in the works for years. Morse said the plan being released Friday wouldn’t have been possible years ago. He said cabinet used to be much more skeptical of climate change issues, but the cultural shift toward green awareness has changed that.
“We were elected 21/2 years ago. It’ll be shown that we’ve come miles in that period of time,” said Morse.
“There’s been such a change in the public that they are now demanding these changes.”
