(Adds details on Alberta election, government statement,
climate policy analyst quote)
By Nia Williams
April 19 (Reuters) - Canada's main oil-producing
province Alberta on Wednesday released a climate plan aiming for
net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, but did not announce any
interim targets in a move that puts it at odds with the federal
government's strategy.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government has
targeted a 40-45% cut in emissions by 2030 and will need to see
major reductions from Alberta, the country's highest-polluting
province and the centre of the fossil fuel industry.
Alberta Environment Minister Sonya Savage said the province
is working on sector-specific emissions reduction targets but
would not impose unrealistic interim goals, and singled out
Ottawa's 2030 goal of a 42% cut in oil and gas emissions.
"That's a random target attached to a random date," Savage
told a news conference in Calgary. "Before we regulate or impose
limits on specific industries and interim targets there's more
work to be done. We have to see what's achievable."
The federal Environment Ministry declined to comment.
The release of the climate plan comes ahead of a provincial
election on May 29.
Conservative Alberta's populist premier Danielle Smith
is a long-standing critic of Trudeau and has made pushing back
against perceived federal over-reach, particularly in the energy
sector, a mark of her premiership.
A provincial government statement on the climate plan
called on Ottawa policymakers to "stay in their lane" and avoid
interfering in provincial jurisdiction.
The plan is focused on areas including carbon capture and
storage, clean electricity, tougher methane regulations and
strengthening the province's industrial carbon pricing system.
Alberta is also exploring lowering its 100 megatonne cap on
oil sands emissions, Savage said. The federal government plans
to introduce a cap on oil and gas emissions, which Alberta has
opposed on the grounds it would amount to a cap on production.
Climate policy think-tank Clean Prosperity welcomed the
climate plan but said clear milestones are needed to show how
Alberta will reach net-zero by 2050.
"Otherwise this plan risks being an aspirational document
rather than a roadmap to a low-carbon future," said Adam Sweet,
Clean Prosperity's Western Director.
(Reporting by Nia Williams in British Columbia; Editing by
Marguerita Choy and Andrea Ricci)
Messaging: nia.williams.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
