Title
WCS Canada Comments - Yukon's Our Clean Future Strategy - January 2020
Author(s)
Don Reid and Hilary Cooke
Published
2020
Publisher
WCS Canada Comments
Abstract
Yukon Government's draft strategy ("Our Clean Future") deals with climate change, and energy supplies, while promoting a green economy. We provide support and encouragement for various useful policy intentions such as expanding the suite of geothermal, solar, and wind sources of energy. However, we are concerned that the strategy promotes biomass energy (burning wood) as a low-carbon energy sources, in the same category as wind and solar in terms of its value in replacing fossil fuels. More extensive and intensive burning of wood for space heating will not significantly reduce the Yukon's carbon footprint, but will lock the territory into many decades of high-carbon emissions from this sector. In addition, we are critical of the government's intention not to include emissions from mines in the accounting of the carbon footprint, and to allow mines to work towards lower carbon emissions using intensity measures (carbon emitted per unit mineral production) rather than absolute measures (total carbon emitted from all sources per year). The strategy does not recognize the huge value of intact forests and landscapes for their carbon sequestration and storage properties.
Full Citation
Don Reid and Hilary Cooke. 2020. WCS Canada Comments - Yukon's Our Clean Future Strategy
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