As a concerned mother,…

As a concerned mother, Ontario citizen and environmental staff person I would like to give some comments in light of the October 8th IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC http://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/. This report gives the latest scientific context for decisions on climate change. We are already at about 1°C of global warming. Reaching 2°C instead of limiting to 1.5°C global warming would lead to higher risks:

• substantial warming of extreme hot days in all land regions;
• an increase in heavy rainfall events in some regions, potentially raising the risk of flooding;
• some regions are projected to become drier;
• stronger melting of ice sheets and glaciers, as well as increased sea level rise;
• higher impacts to biodiversity and ecosystems e.g. loss of virtually all coral reefs, compared to 70-90% at 1.5°C;
• increased risk associated with long lasting or irreversible changes;
• more risk to human health and disproportionately higher risk of adverse consequences for disadvantaged and vulnerable populations...

From the IPCC press release: “The report finds that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require “rapid and far-reaching” transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities. Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching ‘net zero’ around 2050.”

We are going backwards at a time when we need to move forward with a "rapid and far reaching" plan.

This is the target we need to work towards in order to limit the impacts and costs of climate change on future generations. Ontario is already experiencing more extreme weather events related to climate change—drought, flood, heat waves, forest fires etc. People in the Global South are even more on the front lines--sea level rise for low lying Pacific islands, Caribbean islands devastated by more intense hurricanes, drought and food insecurity in Africa...

Bill 4, Cap and Trade Cancellation Act, 2018:
• Under Cap and Trade--our GDP was going up and our GHG emissions were going down—this is the right direction—what plan do you have to replace this?
• Good clean tech jobs will be lost—what plan do you have to replace these jobs?
• Cancelling Cap and Trade will punish those who took action to reduce GHG emissions and reward those who did not—this is the opposite of where we need to go so how will you reverse this trend?
• Unilaterally canceling projects is harmful to business investment in Ontario at a time when we need more green business investment—how will you reverse this?

What seems needed going forward:
• A legally binding pathway to long term scientifically and ethically adequate targets, so progress does not change with every election;
• Climate change policies based on making polluters pay--which is all of us although to varying degrees;
• Allowance made for low-income people so climate change policies do not increase poverty;
• Effective regulations and encouraging investments towards a low carbon economy and low carbon jobs;
• Just transition for workers in high carbon economy jobs to help with transition to low carbon economy jobs—training, support...;
• Ontario government purchases that are low carbon economy;
• End fossil fuel subsidies and use money saved for investing in low carbon economy;
• Regulations to get low emission vehicles to replace high emission vehicles as soon as possible;
• Prepare to adapt to climate change in Ontario, increase resilience;
• An effective plan and policy tools to achieve the scientifically adequate emission reductions so that “Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) … fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching ‘net zero’ around 2050.”
• Transparent, third-party validated, public progress reports