Climate

Reduce emissions by 35 per cent from current levels by 2035, while supporting creation of good industrial jobs for Albertans

• Take back control of carbon policy by implementing a made in Alberta cap and trade system to replace the federal carbon tax, oil and gas cap, methane regulations, and clean electricity regulation.
• Adapt Alberta’s existing industrial carbon price (known as TIER) to form part of the new cap and trade system and expand to cover all industrial emissions
• Build on our successful Renewable Electricity Program to create a competitive carbon policy guarantee program for large scale emissions reduction and removal investments.
• Support new clean industrial innovation ( including lithium production and refining, battery manufacturing, bio energy with carbon capture, biochar, emissions free use of hydrocarbons like carbon fibre, and direct air CO2 capture)
• Ban all new coal mine development.
• Maximize natural carbon sequestration through advanced agriculture, forestry practices, nature conservation, and headwaters protection
• Redirect industrial carbon tax revenue away from general revenue, industry subsidies and the UCP War Room, and towards assisting individual Albertans and families in reducing their energy costs and carbon emissions.
• Cancel the UCP’s EV levy and replace with an EV rebate
• Develop a Crown corporation to provide low-emission public transportation between Alberta communities and build out EV infrastructure within municipalities and along provincial highways.

Fast track development of renewable energy production

• Day One reversal of the UCP’s policy of sabotaging the renewable energy sector
• Renewable energy power plants go to the front of the line for approval processes
• Solar For All program to make electricity more affordable by making it easier for individuals, communities, farms and businesses to install to solar power, including getting rid of the limit on solar installations for homes, farms and small businesses, and providing assistance to low and middle income families and incentivising community projects
• Bring more energy storage onto the grid. Invest in smarter and more robust transmission and distribution systems, including cooperating on expanded regional intertiesRe-commit to a net-zero electricity grid by 2035
• Create incentives for Albertans to use energy strategically (eg. run appliances and charge EVs off peak)

Create a Youth Climate Corps, a one-stop-shop for 18-to-35 year-olds interested in jobs that will tackle climate change through a new Crown corporation or government agency that provides well-paid jobs with embedded training, qualifications in trades, and post-secondary opportunities.

• Jobs include construction of renewable energy projects and other emission-reducing infrastructure, building protection for communities against the effects of climate change such as flood control and FireSmart, and responding to extreme weather events, floods, and wildfires.
• The program would be open to Albertans under 35 with special focus on First Nations, Metis, and Inuit women, and equity-seeking groups for one or two year contracts.
• Jobs would be unionized, and funded by a combination of government, businesses and not-for-profits.
• Youth Climate Corps is a win for young workers, for Alberta’s climate response, and for industry that benefits from a larger pool of highly-skilled labour.

Enforce our Polluter Pay laws and require industry to use their record-breaking profits to clean up their idle wells by 2050, creating dependable full-time jobs for oil and gas workers, who are increasingly being laid off.

• Require industry pay the full cost of reclaiming wells that become orphaned every year, as currently required by law.
• Hold companies accountable for leaks from tailings ponds and for polluting sensitive areas - such the egregious ous leak at Imperial's Kearl site.
• Increase monitoring of emissions and include Indigenous communities in monitoring while respecting their rights and local knowledge.

Wholesale rebuild of the Alberta Energy Regulator to provide true independence from industry, and real tools to protect the public interest.

Undertake a serious review of water allocations - Water Smart - within Alberta’s Treaty obligations. Alberta is facing reduced snowpack, melting glaciers, less water in major rivers and drought conditions in agricultural areas. This means that management of the province’s water resources needs critical attention.

• People and agriculture should be top priorities. Headwaters help us sequester carbon naturally and support healthy ecosystems. When we are allocating water licences they should be prioritized for human needs first, crops and livestock second, and industrial needs third.
• Enhance research into where water is being used and improved monitoring.
• Assist agricultural sector to adapt to drier longer-term condition.
• Support utilities in implementing demand management for water

Install air-filtration systems in all new public buildings including schools, hospitals and post-secondary institutions, long-term care facilities, with a long-term plan to install better air-filtration systems in existing schools and other public buildings

Hire enough firefighters for year-round response, and ensure communities have the resources to cope with wildfires. Enhance emergency planning including evacuation plans.