1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

On 19 August 2023, Environment and Climate Change Canada (“ECCC”) released the Draft Clean Electricity Regulations (the “Draft CERs”).  Their release started an online public consultation that closed on 2 November 2023.

The objective of the CERs is to support Canada’s transition to a net-zero economy by 2050 by, “reducing greenhouse gas (“GHG”) (i.e. carbon dioxide equivalent (“CO2e”)) emissions from emitting electricity generation beginning in 2035”.^[1] The Draft CERs did not put a cap on the sector’s total emissions or set a date by which the national grid will reach net zero. Instead they proposed to limit the emissions intensity^[2] of most electricity-generating units that burn fossil fuels to 30 tonnes of CO2e per Gigawatt hour (“GWh”) of electricity produced (30 t/GWh). This approach is intended to, “accelerate progress towards a net-zero electricity-generating sector”.^[3]

On 16 February 2024, ECCC released Clean Electricity Regulations – Public Update: “What We Heard” during consultations and directions being considered for the final regulations (the “Public Update”). In response to concerns raised by some provinces, corporations, industry associations, and energy system operators, “ECCC is considering changes to the performance standard to give provinces, utilities and other electricity regulators and providers more flexibility while still delivering significant emissions reductions.”^[4]

The changes proposed in the Public Update can be grouped in two categories:

• Changes most troubling to climate-concerned Canadians:
  • End of Prescribed Life – extending the time that existing unabated gas plants can continue to operate for an additional period “to be determined”.
  • More Unabated Gas Plants – extending the date before which new unabated gas plants will be subject to less stringent End of Prescribed Life provisions to a “to be determined” date.
  • Emissions Limit – replacing the 30 tCO2e/GWh emissions intensity standard with a “to be determined” unit-specific annual emissions limit.
• Other changes:
  • Offsets – allowing companies to purchase offset credits to meet a portion of their emissions requirements.
  • Cogeneration – treating emissions from existing cogeneration units differently than emissions from other units, without explaining what that treatment would be.
  • Pooling – allowing companies to combine the emissions limits of individual power-generating units into a pooled emissions limit.
  • Peaker Plants – replacing the 450 hr limit on peaker plants with a “to be determined” unit-specific annual emissions limit.
  • Emergency provisions – replacing the requirement for the federal Minister’s retroactive approval with a requirement to notify the Minister. Emissions during emergencies would not count against the unit’s annual emissions limit for a “to be determined” reasonable period of time.
  • Minimum size – rather than units under 25 MW capacity being excluded, the CERs would apply to new units at the same facility whose capacities collectively amount to 25 MW or greater.

It is particularly concerning the number of policy parameters that are “to be determined”. It is impossible to assess the impact of these changes without sufficient information, so climate-concerned citizens and ENGOs cannot be adequately consulted.

You make your submission by sending an email to ECCC at feedback to ecd-dec@ec.gc.ca by 11:30 PM (Toronto Time) on Friday 15 March 2024.

1.1 How to Use This Toolkit

This Toolkit is designed to help you make your own unique individual submission and thereby provide feedback to Environment and Climate Change Canada (“ECCC”) on their proposed revisions to the Draft Clean Electricity Regulations  (the “Draft CERs”).

When the Draft CERs were published in August 2023, we in the “Climate Messengers” thought they were sufficiently good that we did not need to conduct a campaign encouraging people to use the online public consultation at that time to seek improvements to them.

However, on 16 February 2024, ECCC published a Public Update on the Draft CERs, in which they made proposals which, in some instances may, and in other instances definitely will, water down the Draft Regs and make them much less effective.

We believe that some of these new proposals are so bad that citizens and ENGOs of all kinds that care about reducing Canada’s GHG emissions from electricity generation need to oppose them and need to tell ECCC not to buckle to the lobbying pressure of gas plant owners and operators and the electric system operators in a few recalcitrant provinces that want to kill the Draft Regs, or at least to water them down as much as possible.

We do not expect anyone to read this entire Toolkit, and we cannot imagine that anyone will.  Instead, we have divided up the information into independent sections, most of which will provide you with arguments for your own submissions.  Please make reference to the authorities we cite in your submissions, but not to us.  You can change the wording to make your own unique individual submissions.

You can pick one, two or three or more subsections and use that information to make your own argument on a given issue.

Purely as an example, you could use the information in subsections 3.1.7 and 3.1.8 to make your own argument why ECCC should not extend the time for the “End of Proscribed Life”, which is the amount of time that a currently existing gas plant can continue to operate without any abatement from Carbon Capture and Storage (“CCS”).

You can dip into as many of the issues, and as many of the facts to use for your own submission, or as few of them as you like.

The essential thing is that as many concerned citizens as possible push back against the excessive influence of the gas plant operators and the recalcitrant provincial government.

You make your submission by sending an email to ECCC at feedback to ecd-dec@ec.gc.ca by 11:30 PM (Toronto Time) on Friday 15 March 2024.

If you want further information, you can email us at info@climatemessengers.ca.  We’re an all-volunteer group with no paid staff (or budget!), but we can probably get back to you within about 24 hours.

Thanks for taking this important climate change action, and Good Luck!