In Major Shift, Alberta Adopts New Plans to Fight Climate Change

In a sharp reversal from the previous government, Alberta’s recently elected premier has announced a host of new climate measures, including a tax on carbon, the phase-out of coal emissions by 2030, a transition to renewable energy sources, and CO2 emissions limits on the province’s massive tar sands industry. Premier Rachel Notley said Sunday that the province will adopt an economy-wide carbon tax of 20 Canadian dollars in 2017, increasing to 30 dollars in 2018. She vowed that two-thirds of the electricity now produced by coal-fired power plants will be replaced with renewable energy. And she said Alberta will impose a carbon emissions limit on the oil sands industry of 100 megatons; the industry currently generates 70 megatons of carbon annually. “This is the day we step up, at long last, to one of the world’s biggest problems: the pollution that is causing climate change,” Notley said.