The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report on Monday, which the Saskatchewan NDP considers disturbing.
It suggests that unless changes are immediate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting the warming to close to 1.5 in the next few decades will be beyond reach.
Environment Critic, Erika Ritchie, says the provincial government has failed to come up with a credible climate change plan which leaves residents and the economy exposed.
She says, “The continuing wildfires and stressing drought experienced in our province prove that we need a real plan.”
Ritchie notes that the provincial government’s latest report on climate progress doesn’t include any new measures related to mitigation through emissions reductions, which is unchanged since the document was originally published in 2016.
The NDP is calling for urgent action to commit to a target that reduces greenhouse gas emissions in line with Canada’s international obligations, ensure funds from carbon pricing are redistributed in a progressive manner that recognizes the distinct needs of rural communities and agriculture produces, and advocate to the federal government for enhanced support for the development of new industries in the province, given the larger impact of climate change and carbon pricing on our economy.