How to recognize climate-insincere politicians

The Manitoba NDP entered office two years ago without a climate plan. None. Quite shocking for a so-called progressive party. Why? Aside from the immorality of burning fossil fuels that we know to incinerate the planet, our future economic development (the horse pulling the cart) hinges upon developing the renewable energy economy.

The energy transition currently underway, from fossil fuels to renewables, is the fastest in history. Solar and wind power grow exponentially across the globe. But while most of the world has saddled up the horse, it remains in the barn in Manitoba.

Now halfway through its mandate, Premier Wab Kinew’s government has presented its climate plan. It is rife with flowery language about distant goals: net zero by mid-century; green hydrogen production; some more EV chargers; changes to building codes; and much more. And all with the pretense of doing something without actually doing anything substantial.

It’s advertised as an all-hands-on-deck approach. But in reality, the captain isn’t on deck, but still sleeping in his bunk. The premier has proven to be a climate insincere politician.

What is a climate insincere politician?

It’s a term used by Canada’s foremost renewable energy economist Mark Jaccard. Jaccard, who is on faculty in the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University, is currently chair of the BC Utilities Commission. He has advised China, among others, on climate policy. China, by the way, is now by far the world leader in developing renewable energy and clean transportation.

In 2020, Jaccard published A Citizen’s Guide to Climate Success (available as a free download from Cambridge University Press) providing practical advice on how ordinary citizens can combat the climate emergency. His most urgent recommendation is to not elect “climate-insincere” politicians.

Climate-insincere politicians are not climate deniers. U.S. President Donald Trump is a classic climate denier. He calls the climate crisis a hoax, and undermines the growth of clean energy to burn more coal and drill for more oil and gas. He makes no secret about this.

No, the climate-insincere politician does not deny the reality of climate change. They’re cleverer, disguising themselves by feigning interest in clean energy and decarbonization. They’ll propose policies to appeal to climate-concerned voters but that in reality accomplish little.

The current climate plan of the Kinew government is an exemplar of this. Among the hallmarks of the climate-insincere politician are aspirational goals far in the future. The Manitoba climate plan? We will hit net zero in 2050.

The climate-insincere politician will present a climate plan without simple and clearly focused targets and clear priorities. Instead, they will offer a long laundry list of aspirational goals. In contrast, a climate-sincere politician will present hard targets (short, medium and long-term) and tie concrete policies to these, with clear measurements of progress. Manitoba’s climate plan has none of this. That’s a checkmark for climate insincerity.

Another hallmark of the climate-insincere politician is the good but small policy that benefits only the few: 500 heat pumps (in Manitoba’s population of 1.5 million); an electric-vehicle rebate program with funding for roughly 6,000 EVs in a registered vehicle population of well over a million. Another checkmark.

Another hallmark of the climate-insincere politician is the stalling tactic to avoid the big, necessary decisions needed for the deep decarbonization required for a renewable energy economy. That will involve either some form of carbon pricing, emissions caps or flexible regulations such as EV mandates that achieve the goal of decarbonization albeit less efficiently. They will either argue that these policies are too politically unpopular to implement or worse, actively work to make them unpopular. That was on clear display when Kinew joined the baying hounds (federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe) to spread disinformation about the federal consumer carbon tax with a rebate system which in reality benefited most Manitobans.

Instead of concrete action, climate-insincere politicians will set up advisory committees of non-experts with vague and/or long timelines. They’ll propose education programs on climate change such as those featured in Section 3 of the new climate plan. Another checkmark.

It is clear that Manitobans have a climate-insincere government.

It grows worse when our premier pushes for pipelines to Hudson Bay (that make zero logistic, environmental or economic sense) and whose chief (anti-) climate policy to date has been $400 million worth of tax cuts (and growing) for gas guzzlers.

So what’s the climate-concerned citizen in Manitoba to do?

The answer is also found in Jaccard’s book with its guide to recognizing climate insincere-politicians.

Don’t vote for them.

Scott Forbes is an ecologist at the University of Winnipeg. The opinions expressed here are his own.