Climate Change Advisory Council
Aiming for carbon neutrality: An essential condition for the future
Friday, January 14, 2022
The Climate Change Advisory Council has released last December its first report, titled “Le Québec carboneutre, une contribution essentielle pour le futur.” As a member of the Council, Annie Levasseur, professor-researcher in the Department of Construction Engineering and Scientific Director of the CERIEC, participated in its development.
“We developed this first report in the context of COP26, which was held last November in Glasgow. To fuel our collective reflection on carbon neutrality, we produced a synthesis of scientific publications on the subject,” explains Professor Levasseur.
In this opinion, the members of the Council strongly encourage Quebec to aim for carbon neutrality as soon as possible. To achieve it, they recommend the rapid adoption of a carbon neutrality target that would have the force of law and be based on the Environment Quality Act. Climate action tracking and planning mechanisms, in the form of a carbon budget, would not only be useful for measuring progress, but also for achieving the greenhouse gas cap-and-trade target of an eventual carbon market.
“We must absolutely move towards carbon neutrality,” concludes Annie Levasseur. It is the only way to avoid the irreversible impacts of climate change and to build a more just society.
In short, we still have time to act to change the course of things!
To find out more:
- To consult the report: Le Québec carboneutre, une contribution essentielle pour le futur (French only)
- Annie Levasseur’s appointment: Ministerial appointment
- For information on the Climate Change Advisory Council: Mandate and members (French Only)
About Annie Levasseur
Dr. Annie Levasseur is a professor at École de technologie supérieure within the Department of Construction Engineering, and the chairholder of the newly created Canada Research Chair in measuring the impact of human activities on climate change beginning in September 2020. She is a chemical engineer graduated from Polytechnique Montréal in 1999. She has worked in the oil refining industry for 8 years. She then completed a Ph.D. thesis at Polytechnique in 2011 in the field of life cycle assessment, more specifically on the development of a dynamic LCA method for global warming impact assessment.
She is an expert of the LCA methodology, and her research focuses mainly on climate change impacts, having several research projects related to bioenergy and bio-products.
Dr. Levasseur collaborates regularly with different researchers and partners from institutions active in the forest and/or energy sectors such as Université Laval, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, HEC-Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal, FPInnovations, Kruger, Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs du Québec, Ministère de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques du Québec or Natural Resources Canada.
She is also recognized as an expert in climate change impact assessment within the international LCA scientific community. Between 2013 and 2016, she chaired the Global Warming Task Force within the first phase of the Global Guidance on Environmental Life Cycle Impact Assessment Indicators project organized by the Life Cycle Initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
Recently, she was part of an expert committee from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine of the United States to develop a research agenda for carbon negative emission and reliable sequestration technologies. She was responsible, in collaboration with three other researchers, for the chapter on bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. She has also been invited by the ministère de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques du Québec to be part of the bioenergy committee to develop recommendations for Québec action plan in order to reach its 2030 greenhouse gas emission reduction target.
Communications and student recruitment
(514) 396-8800, ext. 7893
All the news