The green Fund : an empty sidereal

Photo Fotolia

Bertrand Schepper

Thursday, 19 October 2017 10:16

UPDATE
Thursday, 19 October 2017 10:19

Look at this article

In the beginning of the week, we learned that the results of the green Fund were this year once again disappointing. In fact, the 1.23 billion$ invested so far have generated a reduction of 613 000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), representing approximately 0.7 % (p. 13) of total emissions in Quebec. Unfortunately, the answer to this another bad year, the green Fund remains not very convincing and appears to repeat the mistakes of the past few years.

Recall that the green Fund was created in June 2006 and it has since mission is to finance programs of the minister of sustainable Development, the Environment and the Fight against climate change (MDDELCC). It is a financial leverage that should facilitate the development of environmental projects. The financing of the green Fund comes mainly from the quebec system of cap-and-trade emission allowances (SPEDE) is also known as the carbon market. This system asks the biggest polluters to purchase credits for GHG emissions in the quebec government or to the private market to be able to pollute. To mr. and mrs. All-the-world, the effect of the purchase of these credits by private enterprise is felt on the fuel bill, since the biggest polluters, such as refineries and distributors of petrol with their palm the invoice.

The problem is that the Fund is scattered in a plethora of projects that have little to do with each other. On finance for environmental reasons in both the transit and the extension of the Gas network Underground that uses, at least in part, of the shale gas. Everything is likely to be accepted. The Fund will finance 19 programmes (p. 19) a little scattered while granting financial assistance to major polluters to reduce minimally their emissions. The problem with this view is that sprinkled money around a bit without having a clear result. For example, the financing of a cement plant will cause the results to be marginal and the company will continue to pollute enormously, so that new projects could be put in place and make results much more interesting. At a time when Quebec and Canada are in danger of failing to meet their environmental goals, the proposal of the green Fund is the equivalent of putting a bandage on an open wound. The latest results suggest that the green Fund deserves a large household that is long in coming.

Why not use the green Fund as a tool of social project? It could, for example, facilitate increased transit throughout Québec, to facilitate the active transport across cities, out in the remote communities of the use of fuel oil as the main source of production of electricity through green energy, etc Obviously, this type of proposal calls for an overall vision that will harm certain economic players quebec, and for the benefit of other, which will have an effect on the status quo which is currently met by the government. In fact, the reaction of the new minister of the MDDELCC, Isabelle Melançon, in relation to the poor performance of the green Fund is a vacuum breach. According to it, we should explain better the green Fund, ” to justify the merits of the program. This response is surprising. Although some champions of the right want to abolish the Fund, Quebecers·es generally consider fighting climate change as a priority. We do not ask for justifications, but actions are the real impact.

What is even more sad, is that for over a year, the government promised a reform of the green Fund, which was slow to come. This reform was meant to be a way to dodge the bad results of the green Fund of the previous year by the minister Heurtel. In short, the situation continues and nothing is done and the government is more concerned with his plans of communication and concrete actions for the environment. The problem is not the Funds, but those that operate it.