The Canadian government no longer allows new coal mines due to the environmental damage caused by thermal coal.
This means that new coal mines are at odds with the sustainable course that Canada has in mind, Canadian Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in a statement at the G7 summit in the United Kingdom.
Canada is the only G7 country whose carbon emissions increased between 2015 and 2019. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also been criticized worldwide for his climate policy. Friday’s statement said that burning coal is the most significant contributor to climate change in the world. This makes it a significant source of toxic pollution. Trudeau has also pledged that Canada will reduce its emissions by 40 to 45 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.
Canada produced approximately 57 tons of coal in 2019, less than half of which is thermal coal used to generate electricity. The rest is metallurgical coal used for steel production. Coal plants generate less than 10 percent of Canada’s energy needs. The government has previously promised that its use will be completely stopped by 2030.
A much more significant source of carbon emissions comes from the country’s tar sands production. This requires enormous amounts of energy. Earlier this week, Canada’s top tar sands producers announced they would build carbon capture infrastructure to zero emissions by 2050. This plan covers direct emissions from the companies’ operations and indirect emissions from utilities that sell the power to the industry but does not cover emissions from the actual combustion of the fuel.