Leading the Globe on climate change

Addressing Climate Change

• Our government has been applauded by the Canadian Energy Alliance, Business Week, the international Climate Control Group, Environmental Defence and the Suzuki Foundation for our action on climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.


• Under the NDP, Manitoba has become the first province in Canada to enshrine Kyoto targets in legislation. And we are taking aggressive actions to reduce our emissions.

Clean Energy

• Manitoba Hydro is investing in new dams that emit virtually no greenhouse gases and generate thousands of megawatts of clean energy.


• Manitoba Hydro’s Power Smart has saved 400 megawatts of electricity, the equivalent of two Wuskwatim dams, and 31 million cubic meters in natural gas. This translates into 800,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas reductions.


• According to the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance, Manitoba is now tied for 1st in Canada, up from ninth when we came to office in 1999.


• The St. Leon wind farm, one of the largest in the country, is generating 99 megawatts of clean electricity, enough to power 35,000 homes. Manitoba’s exports have reduced the production of greenhouse gases in other jurisdictions by 172 million tonnes over 35 years by reducing their need for thermal generation.

Innovation

• Manitoba has become a national leader in promoting geothermal (ground source) heat energy pumps for heating and cooling buildings in an economical and environmentally friendly way. Per capita, Manitoba installs over three times the number of geothermal heat pumps installed elsewhere in Canada


• Our government was the first in Canada to devise a detailed hydrogen development plan and test hydrogen transit buses. And, if hydrogen becomes the transportation fuel of choice, Manitoba will likely be the first jurisdiction on the continent able to produce hydrogen economically, thanks to its abundant supplies of water and hydroelectricity


• Our government is encouraging the bio-diesel and ethanol industry. The use of ethanol-blended gas, as mandated by our government, will result in a 135,000 tonne reduction in greenhouse gases, equivalent to removing over 10,000 vehicles from the road. Our biodiesel mandate was the first one in Canada.


• We’ve introduced a green-energy manufacturing tax credit to promote the development and manufacture of clean energy technology, including geothermal ground-source heating systems and solar equipment.


• We have enshrined in law a 50/50 funding partnership for the net operating costs of regular and rapid transit systems in Manitoba municipalities.


• Our $500,000 Triple-e trucking program helps upgrade trucking fleets in environmentally-friendly ways, such as by installing anti-idling devices.


• Through Trees for Tomorrow, we are planting five million trees between 2008 and 2013 to absorb more carbon from the atmosphere.


• Manitoba is a leader in protecting polar bears and their habitat from the effects of climate change. Our government is supporting a polar-bear centre in Winnipeg that will include a rescue shelter, educational exhibits and a research unit. Manitoba's boreal forests store as much as 30 billion tonnes of carbon. Since 1999, we have accorded permanent protection status to over a million hectares of our land in parks, wildlife management areas, ecological reserves and provincial forests. We are also partnering with First Nations to develop the most comprehensive traditional land-use plans in Canada. They currently cover 42% of our boreal forest. We have enacted Canada’s highest standards for home-heating energy efficiency.

Moving Forward

• We’ve joined other Canadian provinces and American states in the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), which is aimed at developing market-based strategies to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG).


• Manitoba supports WCI’s regional greenhouse gas reduction goal of 15% below 2005 levels by 2020. We’re setting up a recognized carbon-credit registry, the first of its kind in Canada. Manitoba endorses a cap-and-trade system as the most efficient mechanism to meet a regional GHG reduction goal. Manitoba will be initiating industry and stakeholder consultations on the WCI recommendations.


• Manitoba has unveiled a Green Registry to help people understand the sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and how to measure and reduce these emissions


• The recommended cap-and-trade system is an important milestone but we still have much to do in terms of engaging stakeholders and the public to finalize it.


• We have reduced coal use by converting the Selkirk Generating Station to natural gas. This reduced GHG emissions by an average of 100,000 tonnes /year. And we are shutting down our one remaining coal-fired generation plant in Brandon, except to support emergency operations


• Our $10-per-tonne tax on carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions from coal comes into effect July 2011.


• Our government supports aggressive targets for the reduction of vehicle emissions based on the California standards.


• We are developing facilities for capturing the greenhouse-gas emissions from the province’s major landfills.


• The province will be adopting leading-edge standards for energy efficiency for government buildings and vehicles.


• Statistics Canada reports show that greenhouse gas emissions in Manitoba have been relatively stable in Manitoba since 2000. In contrast, between 1990 and 2000, greenhouse gases increased by more than 2.6 MT in Manitoba - an increase of 14%.

Figures are current as of December 2009

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