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TORONTO, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Canada's largest populated province on Wednesday released details of its multi-billion-dollar action plan to combat climate change and cut greenhouse gases, saying the plan will keep natural gas but offers home and car incentives.
The plan calls for government spending of 5.9 billion Canadian dollars (4.65 billion U.S. dollars) to 8.3 billion Canadian dollars on climate change initiatives over the next five years.
"Contrary to what you've heard, we are not banning natural gas," Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said in an announcement in Toronto, adding that natural gas "will continue to play a critical role in the energy mix in Ontario."
According to the plan, in electric vehicles, rebates of up to 14,000 Canadian dollars will be offered until 2020 to make leasing or buying an electric vehicle more affordable.
There will also be moves to add more public charging stations at workplaces, in city cores and at parking spaces for apartments and condos.
By 2018, new homes in Ontario will come ready with a power outlet in their garages -- similar to a stove plug -- to help Ontarians avoid costly electrical retrofits in the future.
In homes and buildings, the provincial government plans to offer rebates that will encourage homeowners and businesses to install green technology such as solar water heating, better windows and geothermal heating.
Starting in 2019, homeowners who sell their house in Ontario must first have an energy audit, to be paid for by the province. The province also wants to take steps through "legislative and/or regulatory change" to make sure landlords don't just pass on the cost of any retrofits to tenants.
As to vehicles, the province will introduce a "cash for clunkers" program in a move to get older, less efficient vehicles off the road. The province also aims to increase the volume of renewable content - such as ethanol - in gasoline.
Wynne said the plan addresses the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gasses and slow global warming. "Lowering our carbon footprint is going to take time; it isn't going to happen overnight or as a result of heavy-handed rules," Wynne said.
The funds would come from the 1.9 billion Canadian dollars the Liberal federal government expects to raise each year by auctioning pollution emission credits when Ontario joins a cap-and-trade market with Quebec and California in January.
The action plan is to form the backbone of Ontario's strategy to cut greenhouse gas pollution to 15 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, 37 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050. The government will report on the plan's implementation annually and renew the plan every five years.
Ontario's environmental and clean technology sector is made up of 3,000 firms, employs 65,000 people, and is worth an estimated 8 billion Canadian dollars in annual revenues and 1 billion Canadian dollars in export earnings. Enditem
