TORONTO, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Canada will announce on Monday a plan to virtually eliminate the use of traditional coal-fired electricity by 2030, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported, citing anonymous sources.
The measure will offer flexibility to some provinces that have resisted the federal government's plans to counter climate change, government sources told the Globe.
Canada's Liberal government ran on a platform to do more for the environment. Parliament last month ratified the Paris agreement to curb climate-warming emissions, bolstering Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's bid to tackle climate change after a decade of inaction by the previous government. Environment and Climate Change Canada federal agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The coal-phase-out plan is one of a series of measures that Ottawa is unveiling ahead of a federal-provincial meeting in December, when Trudeau hopes to conclude a pan-Canadian climate accord, according to the newspaper.
The coal regulation would accelerate an existing phase-out timetable for four provinces that still burn coal for electricity to either adopt technology to capture carbon emissions or shut down the plants, the paper said.
Some plants will be allowed to stay open if equivalent emission reductions are achieved elsewhere, the Globe reported.
Trudeau vowed last month to bring in a minimum nationwide price on carbon emissions by 2018. shows Canada has little chance of meeting its climate change goals, in part because of booming emissions from the energy sector.