Federal Government Announces Plan To Phase Out Coal By 2030

On November 21, 2016, the Government of Canada announced that it plans to phase out coal-powered electricity and accelerate the move to new sources of clean energy by 2030 (the Announcement). The goal of the Announcement is to have Canada producing 90 percent of its electricity from all clean sources (including nuclear) by the 2030 target date, up from the 80 percent which it currently produces.

As part of the Announcement, the Federal government has proposed amendments to the Reduction of Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Coal-fired Generation of Electricity Regulations, SOR/2012-167 (the Regulations). The Regulations currently apply stringent performance standards of 420 tonnes of carbon dioxide per gigawatt hour (tCO2/GWh) to both coal-fired electricity-generation units (the Units) that are newly built, and to Units that have reached the end of their useful life (generally defined as 50 years of operation from the Unit's commissioning date). Under the amendments to the