Global warming gets worse as Alberta ignores issue

David Suzuki Foundation

October 12, 2006

OTTAWA — Alberta needs to realize that ignoring global warming makes it worse; it does not make it disappear, according to a new David Suzuki Foundation study.

“Alberta has the fourth-largest provincial economy, but it’s the number one producer of greenhouse gases, says report author Dale Marshall, a David Suzuki Foundation policy analyst based in Ottawa. “That pollution is mainly from the oil and gas sector, and it’s exploding with the work on the tar sands. Add five new coal-fired power plants, and the outlook is disturbing.”

The second edition of the Suzuki Foundation’s All Over the Map report assesses provincial and territorial action on climate change, compares each region’s greenhouse gas emissions, analyzes their climate change plans and evaluates their records. Alberta has one of the poorest records when it comes to addressing global warming.

The report found most provincial and territorial action on climate change is scattered, piecemeal and entirely absent in some places. Some provinces and territories (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Yukon) have no climate change plans at all, others (Newfoundland, NWT, and British Columbia) have plans that are weak and vague. The worst offenders (Saskatchewan and Alberta) continue to allow emissions to grow unchecked, without any plan to even address the problem.

“Alberta needs a real climate change plan,” Mr. Marshall says. “One that challenges the petroleum and electricity sectors to accept responsibility for their pollution. Then it needs to figure out firm targets and concrete measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions.”

The full report, All Over The Map, is online at www.davidsuzuki.org.

For more information, please contact:

Dale Marshall
Climate change policy analyst
David Suzuki Foundation
Cell: 613-302-9913
[email protected]

Justin Smallbridge
Communications specialist
David Suzuki Foundation
604-732-4228, ext. 237
[email protected]