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Yukon Government releases first progress report on the "Our Clean Future" strategy

Friday, 13 August 2021 14:37

By Dylan MacNeil

According to the report, the government finished nine out of the 11 things they said they would have done by 2020.

The Government of Yukon has release their first annual “Our Clean Future” report.

 

The report details the progress the government is making when it comes to implementing climate change, energy and green economy commitments made in the “Our Clean Future” strategy that was announced in September 2020.

 

“The climate crisis is affecting the north faster and more severely than the rest of Canada,” Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources John Streicker told media at a briefing.

 

According to the report, the government completed nine out of the 11 actions in “Our Clean Future” and as Minster of the Environment Nils Clarke explains, two are still in progress.

 

“E-15, which is to implement a glacier monitoring program in 2020, to improve our ability to predict the impacts of glacier melt on hydrological systems and hydro electricity generation. The glacier monitoring program will be developed and implemented by the end of 2021, and the other action is identified as I-2, to update the government of Yukon’s procurement policies and standards in 2020 to better support sustainable and local procurement. A draft sustainable procurement strategy implementation plan has bee prepared and will be finalized by the end of 2021,”

 

The report also finds that the number of zero emissions vehicles registered in the territory doubled from 2019 to 58.

 

The government says they have supported 25 high-performance building retrofits and 15 smart electric heating system installations in 2020.

 

It’s not all good news though, the report also found that the Yukon’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, excluding emissions from the mining industry, were 18 per cent higher than 2010 levels. Emissions are expected to be down for 2020, that data is not available yet.  

 

The territory’s greenhouse gas reduction target has been ramped up from 30 to 45 percent by 2030. A Yukon Climate Leadership Council is being put together to figure out how to reach the goal.

 

 

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