Evidence of meeting #133 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was forests.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:35 p.m.
The Chair Mr. John Aldag (Cloverdale—Langley City, Lib.)
Good afternoon, everyone.
Welcome to all of our presenters today.
This is the start of a new study. It was a motion adopted back on February 1 of 2018 to dedicate six meetings to studying the pan-Canadian framework on climate change and this one is looking at forestry, agriculture and waste.
We'll be having witnesses for the next three weeks, essentially, and then get into our report, possibly before Christmas.
With that, I'd like to welcome Mr. Aboultaif, as a guest with the committee today.
3:35 p.m.
Mr. John Aldag (Cloverdale—Langley City, Lib.)
I believe we have two presentations from the department.
Ms. MacNeil, are you ready to go? You'll have 10 minutes.
Mr. Scarpaleggia, it's also good to have you.
For anyone who's new to the committee, I'll use my cards to give a one-minute signal, when you're almost out of time, and then a red card for when your time is up. You don't have to stop immediately, but wrap up your thoughts. That will apply when we go through the rounds with our members as well.
With that, Ms. MacNeil, if you have others in your delegation from your department you'd like to introduce, you're welcome to do that.
3:35 p.m.
Beth MacNeil Assistant Deputy Minister, Canadian Forest Service, Department of Natural Resources
Can we do introductions right away, before I start?
3:35 p.m.
Mr. John Aldag (Cloverdale—Langley City, Lib.)
Sure. Do that right away and then we'll start the clock with your presentation.
3:35 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Canadian Forest Service, Department of Natural Resources
We're all from Natural Resources Canada, from the Canadian Forest Service.
We have, joining us online from our Pacific Forestry Centre, Dr. Werner Kurz, senior researcher on climate change. We have Dr. Anne-Hélène Mathey, who manages our climate change programming, and we have Dr. Tony Lemprière, manager of climate change policy.
Can I pass it over to my colleagues?
3:35 p.m.
Mr. John Aldag (Cloverdale—Langley City, Lib.)
Sure.
Let's do that and then we'll get into the presentation.
3:35 p.m.
Judy Meltzer Director General, Carbon Pricing Bureau, Department of the Environment
Hi, it's Judy Meltzer. I'm the director general of the carbon pricing bureau at Environment and Climate Change Canada.
3:35 p.m.
Vincent Ngan Director General, Horizontal Policy, Engagement and Coordination, Department of the Environment
I'm Vincent Ngan, the director general of horizontal policy and engagement for the pan-Canadian framework implementation office, with Environment and Climate Change Canada. I have the longest title.
Thank you.
3:35 p.m.
Matt Parry Director General, Policy Development and Analysis Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Good afternoon. I'm Matt Parry. I'm the director general for policy development and analysis at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
3:35 p.m.
John Fox Director General, Innovation Programs Directorate, Programs Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Hi, I'm John Fox. I'm the director general of innovation programs at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
3:35 p.m.
Dr. Javier Gracia-Garza Director General, Ontario - Quebec Region, Science and Technology Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Hello, I'm Dr. Javier Gracia-Garza. I'm the director general for the Ontario-Quebec region for the science and technology branch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
3:35 p.m.
Mr. John Aldag (Cloverdale—Langley City, Lib.)
Thank you, everybody.
You have 10 minutes for your opening statement.
3:35 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Canadian Forest Service, Department of Natural Resources
Thank you very much, Chair.
I forgot to mention that I am the assistant deputy minister for the Canadian Forest Service.
Good afternoon, gentlemen, and lady, around the table. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the importance of forests and the forest sector and their role in Canada's clean growth and climate change strategy. We are, I believe, at a pivotal moment when climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our generation. Investing in science, clean technology and innovation is the new imperative for a low-carbon economy.
We believe there can be no global solution to climate change without the forest sector. That statement is backed by science. Keeping global temperature increases to two degrees or less means we need to very substantially reduce fossil fuel emissions and increase land-based carbon sinks.
The work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change makes it clear that forests, in particular, have a large role to play. The IPCC says:
In the long term, a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon [sinks], while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fibre or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit.
Federal programs are important, but, as you know, provinces and territories control the majority of the land base and resources. I am encouraged that provinces and territories are taking greater interest than ever before to understand the potential to reduce GHG emissions and increase carbon through actions involving forests and wood use.
If we consider forest carbon estimation, the managed forest in Canada covers 226 million hectares. The annual GHG inventory report shows that our managed forest already absorbs vast amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. At the same time, harvesting results in storage of carbon for decades in products such as lumber used in housing, even though, over time, there are emissions when the products are eventually disposed of.
When we consider the role our managed forests in Canada play, as a source or a sink, we need to consider three things: first, how forest management affects emissions and removals; second, the carbon stored in wood products; and third, how forest products and bioenergy can replace other products and fossil fuels that produce more emissions.
Canada's GHG inventory shows that our managed forests and associated products were a net sink of 27 megatonnes in 2016. It's important to note that this does not include the impact of fire or vast pest infestations such as the mountain pine beetle. Those two alone resulted in emissions of about 90 megatonnes in 2016.
How do we produce these numbers? At Natural Resources Canada, we use the national forest carbon monitoring accounting and reporting system. At its core is the forest carbon budget model, a model initiated in 1989 by Canada—by us—continuously improved since then, and internationally recognized and adopted by many countries.
I'll touch briefly on forests and climate change mitigation. The key question here is, what can we do to increase the carbon storage and reduce GHG emissions associated with forests and wood products? NRCan has looked at this question in collaboration with our partners in the provinces and territories, and some of the analysis was done in preparation for the pan-Canadian framework on clean growth and climate change.
The analysis shows that mitigation actions with significant potential for emissions reductions in the long term, by 2030 and beyond, include four things. The first is forest management actions, such as enhancing restoration of forests after fire and insect damage like we see in British Columbia and Alberta, and ensuring maximum utilization of fibre, including residue.
The second is increasing afforestation to create new forests, using marginal agricultural land—planting trees.
The third is increasing the use of long-lived wood products to replace more emission-intensive materials, for example, replacing concrete and steel with mass timber buildings wherever possible.
Finally, fourth is increasing use of wood for bioenergy in place of fossil fuels, for example, by reducing burning slash piles of harvest residues. We can use these in the form of pellets for bioenergy and bioheat.
By 2050, carbon sequestration in forests and wood products could represent one of the largest mitigation opportunities for Canada. However, note that the actions need to take place today and in the near term if we are to achieve this benefit by 2050, because in Canada it takes a long time to grow trees.
These analyses informed the pan-Canadian framework. The PCF commits us to enhancing carbon storage in forests, generating bioenergy and bioproducts, encouraging greater use of wood in construction projects, and advancing innovation for GHG-efficient forest management practices. When Canadians think of how forests can help mitigate climate change, it is often limited to notions of tree planting, but that isn't the case from our perspective. Similarly, conservation appears like a good opportunity to leave the forests in place and not harvest them, but that is without taking into account the increasing frequency of fire and insect outbreaks, and without considering what would replace wood products if we reduce harvest, so that you're using more emission-intensive products. Conservation is definitely important, but it's often not the most effective long-term GHG emission strategy.
One pan-Canadian framework commitment involves looking at innovative practices in the forest sector to increase stored carbon in forests. ECCC's low-carbon economy fund is providing support in the order of $202 million in this area. B.C., Alberta, Quebec, P.E.I. and the Northwest Territories are accessing this to accelerate restoration of forests after fires and pest insects, and they're planting new forests.
A second PCF commitment involves increasing the use of wood in construction to store carbon over the long term. This increases the use of a renewable resource, while replacing conventional emissions-intensive building products, and is a goal of our NRCan $40-million green construction through wood program. An example of this is Brock Commons, at the University of British Columbia. Up until about a month ago Canada was a world leader in having the tallest wood building—18 storeys built in nine and half weeks.
A third pan-Canadian framework commitment involves identifying opportunities to produce renewable bioproducts and fuels, something that we're quite proud of. To this end, $55 million of NRCan's $220-million clean energy for remote and rural communities program—we call it CERRC—is supporting projects to replace fossil fuels with local forest biomass for heating, and we're focusing on indigenous communities across Canada to do this.
These are just some of the ways the forest sector will help us tackle the key issue of climate change, as well as lead environmental performance, drive clean growth and innovation, and at the same time make real reconciliation with indigenous peoples.
Here are some key points as I close. We cannot forget that forest carbon emission and storage is not only affected by humans but by the changing climate itself, which increases the frequency and magnitude of fires in Canada, has an effect on growth rates and survival, and enhances insect outbreaks. The last two fire seasons in the west, as well as the outbreak of mountain pine beetle and the spruce budworm infestations on the east coast, are all causing large emissions.
We need to think about what actions can reduce GHG emissions, while contributing to climate change mitigation. Our federal programming is doing a lot, and I believe further opportunities exist.
Thank you.
3:45 p.m.
Mr. John Aldag (Cloverdale—Langley City, Lib.)
Thank you very much.
Mr. Parry, you're going to make comments from the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food.
3:45 p.m.
Director General, Policy Development and Analysis Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Yes, thank you very much.
Thank you for the opportunity to be here today with my colleagues from the department to discuss greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector, as well as the role of the sector in contributing to emissions reductions and the transition to a low-carbon economy.
As I'm sure you know, the pan-Canadian framework is a comprehensive plan to grow the Canadian economy while reducing emissions and building resilience to a changing climate. The agriculture sector has an important role to play, as it accounts for approximately 8.5% of total emissions in Canada. These are figures from the most recent greenhouse gas inventory report.
Total agricultural emissions from livestock, crops and on-farm fuel use have been relatively stable since the mid-1990s, despite significant growth in agricultural production over that time. This indicates an important decoupling of emissions and production, as farmers have become more efficient and adopted sustainable practices and technologies.
It is important to note that unlike many other sectors, most agricultural emissions do not come from energy use, but rather from biological processes. In this regard, the three main greenhouse gases produced by agriculture are methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide, which come from ruminant digestion, manure and fertilizers, as well as soils and on-farm fuel use.
Given the nature of these emissions, efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are often focused on science and innovation, supporting on-farm actions to enhance efficiency and adopt more sustainable practices and technologies.
The Canadian agricultural partnership is the primary mechanism by which the agriculture sector will contribute to Canada's transition to a low-carbon economy, as well as the three specific actions identified in the pan-Canadian framework, which I'll come to shortly.
I'll just give a bit of background concerning the Canadian agricultural partnership. Since 2003, federal, provincial and territorial governments have used intergovernmental policy frameworks to collaborate and coordinate efforts on agricultural issues, which is obviously important, given agriculture is a shared jurisdiction in Canada.
Building on past successes, Canadian ministers of agriculture launched the most recent framework, called the Canadian agricultural partnership, on April 1 of this year. The partnership is a five-year, $3-billion investment that will strengthen the agriculture, agri-food and agri-based product sector, ensuring continued innovation, growth and prosperity. It aligns federal, provincial and territorial policy and program priorities while providing provincial and territorial governments with the flexibility to address regional priorities and issues.
Federal, provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture have identified environmental sustainability and climate change as one of six priorities under the partnership.
Through the partnership, the Government of Canada, together with the provinces and territories, will provide funding to help this sector grow sustainably in three broad areas: reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector; protecting the environment, including soil and water; and helping the sector adapt to a changing climate.
More specifically, with respect to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the pan-Canadian framework identified three specific areas for action: first, increasing the stored carbon in agricultural soils; second, generating bioenergy and bioproducts; and third, advancing innovative practice to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
This will be accomplished through a variety of programs, some delivered by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and others cost-shared with provincial and territorial governments. I would note that a significant portion of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's funding under the partnership is focused on science, research and the development of innovative practices and technologies.
With respect to on-farm environment cost-shared programs, they deliver the practices and technologies developed through upstream science and innovation activities. Provinces and territories design and manage the delivery of these programs, which allows the programs to be tailored to each jurisdiction's environmental priorities. In particular, these programs build producer awareness and knowledge of environmental risks on farms. Based on these risk assessments, they provide financial incentives to producers to adopt innovative beneficial management practices to reduce these risks, including climate-related risks.
Canadian producers have adopted technologies and practices that both build resilience to climate change and reduce emissions by improving production efficiency and increasing agricultural soil carbon. For example, Canadian farmers are increasing their adoption of new precision agriculture technologies, such as variable-rate irrigation and smart fertilizers, which save valuable water resources, use fertilizer resources more efficiently and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
I would note that in addition to the Canadian agricultural partnership, there are some programs that will contribute to further action on climate change in the sector. There are two specific examples to note. In budget 2017 there was an announcement of funding of $70 million over six years to further support agricultural discovery, science and innovation, with a focus on addressing emerging priorities, such as climate change and soil and water conservation. Budget 2017 also announced $200 million over four years for innovative clean technologies for Canada's natural resource sectors, including $25 million in funding in agriculture for the development and adoption of clean technology in the sector, and also to produce advanced materials and bioproducts based on agricultural outputs.
In conclusion, through the adoption of innovative practices and technologies, the agriculture sector has made important advances in increasing efficiencies, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, conserving soil and water, and building resilience to a changing climate. Through Canadian agricultural partnership and other complementary funding, the federal government, in collaboration with provincial and territorial governments, will support industry efforts to enhance the sustainability of the Canadian agricultural sector.
Thank you for your time. My colleagues and I would be pleased to answer any questions.
3:50 p.m.
Mr. John Aldag (Cloverdale—Langley City, Lib.)
Excellent. Thank you.
We'll move into our rounds of questions now. They're all six minutes except for the last one, which is three. I do hope that our members of Parliament remember at some point to invite Mr. Kurz, from Victoria, to join in the conversation. Perhaps he could tell us how great the weather is in Victoria today, how warm, so those of us in Ottawa can feel really bad for being here instead of there.
Anyway, with that we'll start off with the questioning.
First up is Mr. Fisher for six minutes.
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you all for being here. I appreciate it.
I'm particularly thrilled that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is here today, because I just have to ask this question. I've been hearing about one of your scientists, Wade Abbott, researching why feeding seaweed to cows helps them be less gassy—
3:50 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
—or produce less methane, I guess, would be the proper way to say it. We have cows in the Maritimes being fed this diet in order to reduce emissions. Is this something your department is actively working on? Did someone stumble upon this? Is this just one of the innovations? If so, what are some of the other agricultural innovations to reduce GHGs?
I'm looking at Matt, but I'm....
3:50 p.m.
Director General, Policy Development and Analysis Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
I'm looking at my colleagues.
3:50 p.m.
Director General, Ontario - Quebec Region, Science and Technology Branch, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food
It is indeed fascinating, and thank you for the question.
I'm certainly not the expert. Wade Abbott is the scientist who has been working, among other scientists in Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, looking at different types of additives or alternatives in feeding livestock, with the goal of reducing methane production. There is not only that, but I think there are several venues being explored. I cannot necessarily list all of the different products or alternatives that are being used, but there is capacity certainly within Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada that has been looking at the issue of the different, I will say, nutrition for livestock, but also to better understand the microbes that are in the gut of ruminants.
There is a strong interaction, and we are taking a much more systemic approach to looking at how we can, through different systems, reduce these GHG emissions from livestock and also from crops. Microbial communities in the ruminants, as well as the foods they are being fed, are areas we are actually exploring in our research in different parts of the country, for beef production in Alberta with Wade Abbott but also in Quebec and in the Maritimes.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
That's very cool.
Sticking with methane but moving over to ECCC, we know that solid waste produces methane and GHGs. In Nova Scotia, particularly in the Halifax Regional Municipality, they do a very good job on solid waste. What is the federal government doing to support municipalities to increase the capture of methane through landfill gas collection?