Climate change report shows need for 'downward shift' in N.L. oil industry, prof says
'We need to make sure we're reading it,' says Angela Carter
A United Nations report released on Monday sounded the alarm on what it's calling "irreversible" climate impacts and a "code red for humanity," and a Newfoundland professor researching oil and the climate crisis says people need to pay attention.
University of Waterloo Prof. Angela Carter, originally from Conception Bay South, told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show on Tuesday the the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is the best independent knowledge on climate science in the world.
"We need to make sure we're reading it, paying attention to it and adapting it in terms of how policy makers are responding to this," Carter said.
Carter said the latest report is a summary of more than 14,000 scientific publications that's peer-reviewed work vetted by hundreds of scientists.
The report blames human activity for being the cause of heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods, extreme storms and sea-level rise.
Carter said what surprised her in the report is the urgency coming from the science community for immediate solutions.
"This is happening. We created it as humans by the greenhouse gases that we have been producing. This report is underscoring that we have altered our climate and we have altered it in every corner of the world," she said.
"The impacts of the change that we have created are now unfolding with terrible consequences."
N.L. oil and gas
As a province, Newfoundland and Labrador relies heavily on revenue generated from its offshore oil and gas industry to keep its lights on. A report released earlier this year by the premier's economic recovery team recommended the province stop depending on oil with further recommendations on transitioning to a green economy.
Carter said no one is suggesting there can be an immediate end to using fossil fuels, but pointed to IPCC vice-chair Ko Barrett on Monday saying "unprecedented transformational change is needed."
"Those are strong words," said Carter. "No one is saying we need to stop using or producing oil, or gas or coal tomorrow, but what is very clear is that there must be a downward shift of the production and the use of those fossil fuels."
Carter said the most pressing question now facing the government of Newfoundland and Labrador is what it will do about winding down a sector that has been financially beneficial for decades.
She said Newfoundland and Labrador's oil sector is part of the global climate problem, ranking among the highest large final emitters in Canada in 2017, and the province needs to take responsibility. Carter said the province cannot explore oil fields further for new reserves and subsidies given to that sector need to be redirected to developing sectors that are climate-safe.
"We can't hide behind oil companies' wishful thinking that our oil is somehow clean. However we might extract it, it's being extracted to be burned somewhere with a terrible climate cost that the IPCC is referencing for us today," said Carter.
"What we have on the books right now is the commitment to increase production of oil off our coast. In fact that's been a key talking point for our provincial government now for several governments."
National economy
Federal Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan told CBC News the IPCC report reminds people they're on "red alert."
With Canada the fourth-largest oil-producing nation in the world, O'Regan said, the country is facing a big challenge.
"It's the biggest part of our national economy," he said. He noted Canada has set a target of reducing emissions by 30 to 40 per cent by 2030.
"But the same people, the same infrastructure, the same expertise that made us the fourth-biggest producers of oil and gas in the world are also the same people, and the same infrastructure that can turn this around and lower our emissions.… But we got to get at it urgently."
Newfoundland and Labrador Environment Minister Bernard Davis told CBC Radio's On The Go he's happy the province is working on its environment and climate change action plan.
Davis said small changes from the general public can have an impact on supporting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
When asked about backing future oil exploration in Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore industry, Davis said the industry is still going to exist "for a little while" but the transition away from it is "important for us."
"We're going to put practices in place to … even more reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That's our goal, that's what we're working with [the] industry on," he said.
"At the end of the day I understand that tomorrow would be great to switch from all of those things, but the economy has to survive and one of the things we're working in is balancing that approach."
With files from The St. John's Morning Show and Mark Quinn