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North American leaders pledge 50% clean power target

The leaders of the US, Canada and Mexico have joined forces under the auspices of the North American Climate, Clean Energy, and Environment Partnership Action Plan to commit to reducing their emissions and to improve energy efficiency.

The action plan, which was ratified at the North American Leaders Summit in Ottawa, identifies goals and commitments to be pursued collaboratively by the three countries as part of a long-term partnership to tackle climate change and promote clean power generation.

The leaders have pledged a target for the whole of North America’s electricity to be made up of 50% clean power by 2025, including renewables, nuclear and carbon capture and storage, as well as reducing demand through energy efficiency. Greater support has been pledged for cross-border transmission projects for North America’s electricity grid.

Targets for reducing emissions from light and heavy-duty vehicles (HDV) have also been outlined – first the introduction of low-sulphur diesel fuel and HDV exhaust air pollutant emission standards by 2018; followed by light-duty vehicles and HDV fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards out to 2025 and 2027 respectively.

Attempts to speed up the deployment of clean and efficient vehicles in government fleets are also outlined in the action plan – including US commitments to expand charging infrastructure at federal facilities. The leaders promised to explore ways of reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas industry – the world’s largest industrial methane source – and have pledged to do more to encourage oil and gas companies to join international initiatives on climate change. 

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