Énergir welcomes the Plan for a Green Economy 2023–2028 Implementation Plan, announced today by François Legault, Premier of Quebec, and Benoît Charette, Quebec Minister of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change.
Énergir particularly welcomes the more than $1 billion earmarked to decarbonize the building sector. Énergir is already implementing several initiatives to phase out fossil natural gas in the residential, commercial and institutional building sector by proposing solutions such as renewable natural gas (RNG), dual energy and thermal waste diversion. This enhancement is therefore welcome, as it will facilitate to decarbonize its customers’ buildings.
“The additional funding to decarbonize the building sector demonstrates the government's openness to a diverse portfolio of tools. Alongside its partners, Énergir is working hard to phase out fossil natural gas from this sector through complementary solutions to electricity, which not only provide value and resilience to our energy system, but will help decarbonize our province,” said Stéphanie Trudeau, Executive Vice-President, Quebec at Énergir.
Énergir also highlights additional support to the industrial sector to finance energy efficiency projects through the ÉcoPerformance program, and to develop the direct use of bioenergy such as forest biomass waste and RNG. These investments will enhance the energy solutions that Energir already offers to its industrial customers, particularly cement plants, so that they can decarbonize while remaining competitive on an international scale.
The Plan for a Green Economy has set a minimum distribution target of 10% for RNG across Quebec’s gas network by 2030. In addition to financial resources, a new regulatory framework needs to be implemented to ensure that the Plan’s targets will be achieved.
