Publication

NS Environmental Goals & Climate Change Reduction Act: In Pursuit of Sustainable Prosperity

Published:

November 10, 2021

Author(s):

• James MacDuff, Partner
• Daniel Vanclieaf, McInnes Cooper Alum

Share

Print

On November 5, 2021, the Province of Nova Scotia passed the Environmental Goals and Climate Change Reduction Act. The Act will serve as the framework from which the Provincial Government will seek to transition Nova Scotia towards “sustainable prosperity” and net zero emissions. The Act is a successor to the Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act, first introduced in 2007, and closely resembles the Province’s previous commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals Act (2019), which was passed but never took effect. The Act lays out a number of climate-related objectives to be achieved by the Province over the next 10 years – including the most ambitious 2030 emissions reductions targets in Canada. Seen by the Province as an important first step in achieving Nova Scotia’s climate commitments, the legislation stands to impact nearly every sector of Nova Scotia’s economy in some manner.

Here’s a review of the key provisions of the Act, a brief exploration of each of the four principles at the heart of the Province’s environment plan, and what to expect next.

Sustainable Prosperity

The Act defines the concept of sustainable prosperity as “prosperity where economic growth, environmental stewardship and social responsibility are integrated and recognized as being interconnected”. The Act identifies the government’s long-term objective as the achievement of sustainable prosperity, an objective to be the shared responsibility of all levels of government, the private sector, and all of Nova Scotia. The government hopes to achieve this objective with reference to four broad strategies: ensuring government actions are informed by Netukulimk and guided by equity considerations, encouraging sustainable development, and the development of the circular economy.

1. Netukulimk

In light of this objective, the Act outlines the government’s “goal” to modernize the Province’s environmental assessment process by 2024 to include the principle of Netukulimk and consideration of the cumulative impacts of the use of the Province’s natural resources. Further, the Act identifies as a goal, the promotion and support of climate change education through the knowledge and teaching of Netukulimk and the development of educational resources that honours an Etuaptmumk, or “two-eyed seeing”, approach.

Netukulimk is a Mi’kmaq worldview found within both traditional and modern institutions. Netukulimk embraces the principle that the Creator provided the world’s natural bounty for the self-support and well-being of the individual and the community by achieving adequate standards of community nutrition and economic well-being without jeopardizing the integrity, diversity, or productivity of the environment. The principle of Netukulimk requires the Mi’kmaq to be mindful of the sources of the land’s resources and consider that those resources have been provided for the benefit of the community, such that they should not be expended carelessly. In this way, Netukulimk draws many similarities to the concept of sustainable development.

Traditionally, Netukulimk principles structured vast networks of family entitlements and shared territory throughout Mi’kma’ki, the traditional territory of the Mi’kmaq. The use of resources within a geographic area was divided among family and community groups, ensuring each grouping could obtain from the land adequate nutrition and a moderate livelihood, without compromising or placing strain on the surrounding environment. Netukulimk reflects a responsibility and relationship to the land and its resources and informs the Mi’kmaq’s exercise of their rights to harvest. Modern Mi’kmaq institutions have maintained this legal tradition in informing resource management and conservation, including the development of community harvest guidelines and the use of Mi’kmaq ecological knowledge within the development process.

2. Equity Considerations

The Act also identifies that achieving sustainable prosperity will involve ensuring equity, the recognition of people’s differences, and the attempt to counteract unequal opportunities by considering fairness and justice. These guiding principles are considered throughout the goals identified within the Act. Specifically, the Act states that with respect to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), it is the government’s goal to advance on-going work to create sustained funding for climate action and community-based solutions with racialized and marginalized communities in Nova Scotia. The Act also confirms that the modernization of the provincial environmental assessment process will involve incorporating equity considerations, which will likely be similar in nature to those introduced as considerations within the federal Impact Assessment Act.

3. Sustainable Development

In pursuit of sustainable prosperity, the Act establishes the goals of reducing the Province’s green-house gas emissions by at least 53% below 2005 levels by 2030, and net zero emissions by 2050. These commitments replicate the targets established under the Nova Scotia Sustainable Development Goals Act, introduced in 2019. The objectives are consistent with Canada’s international climate obligations under the Paris Agreement to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, and actually exceed Canada’s nationally determined contribution for 2030, set at 40-45% below 2005 levels. The Act notes that achieving these emissions targets will require further investments in the clean economy and climate change mitigation measures, including:

• Conducting a province-wide climate change risk assessment by December 31, 2022.
• Improving the efficiency and climate change readiness of government buildings.
• Developing and implementing a zero-emission vehicle mandate that will see at least 30% of new vehicle sales in the Province be zero-emission vehicles by 2030.
• Having 80% of electricity in the Province supplied by renewable energy by 2030.
• Phasing out coal-fired electricity generation in the Province by the year 2030.
• Establishing a Provincial Active Transportation strategy.

With respect to the protection of land, the Province has established the goal of conserving at least 20% of the total land and water mass of the Province by 2030, either as protected areas or other effective area-based conservation measures. The Province has also stated as a goal, the implementation of an ecological forestry approach for Crown lands, consistent with the recommendations in “An Independent Review of Forest Practices in Nova Scotia” (known as the Lahey Report) by 2023.

4. Circular Economy

Finally, the Act introduces a number of goals to encourage the growth of the circular economy. The Act defines a circular economy as “an economy in which resources and products are kept in use for as long as possible, with the maximum value being extracted while they are in use and from which, at the end of their service life, other materials and products of value are recovered or regenerated”. This model of production and consumption relies on eliminating waste and pollution, encouraging the recirculation of products and materials, and regeneration of natural systems in mitigating the impacts of climate change.

With respect to promoting a circular economy, the Act’s goals include expanding extended producer responsibility (EPR) and reducing the use of single-use plastics and solid wastes. EPR as a concept involves placing the responsibility for certain products during the post-consumer and treatment/disposal stage onto the producer in order to incentivize the elimination of waste at the source and promote the use of recyclable materials. Closely connected to the EPR principle, the Act sets the goal of reducing the use of single-use plastics in the Province and reducing solid waste disposal rates to no more than 300 kilograms per person per year by 2030. The Act’s identified goals are in line with the Federal Government’s commitment to ban certain single-use plastics and achieve zero plastic waste by 2030.

Next Steps

The Act is structured as a series of goals to be achieved by the Province. Accordingly, its goals are not legally binding. Rather, similar to the approach taken in the Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act, they were developed to serve as a framework under which the government’s climate change and environmental priorities will be implemented over the next 10 years. The Province has added some “teeth” to the legislation in mandating an annual review of its progress in pursuit of the Act’s goals and a five year review to be conducted by the Minister’s Round Table on the Environment and Sustainable Prosperity. The Act is likely to be followed by the creation of more detailed regulations and calls for the development of a Climate Change Plan for Clean Growth to achieve its emissions reductions and climate change mitigation measures. In particular, it remains to be seen whether these will give rise to binding obligations on government, or mandated ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) requirements on the private sector, or both.

Please contact your McInnes Cooper lawyer or any member of our Energy & Natural Resources Team @ McInnes Cooper to discuss how Nova Scotia’s new environment plan might affect you.

Share

Print