March 29, 2024
Global Renewable News

Legals and Morals
Volume 6, Issue 46

December 1, 2015

The UN Conference on Climate Change (COP21) opened yesterday in Paris. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accompanied by the country's premiers is there to show the world that after a decade of Conservative government inaction, Canada is dead serious about charting a greener future. And it can back up its claim with a strong economy and vast resources of clean energy from water, solar, and wind. The country should be a leader, not a laggard. "What we need is not ambitious political targets," Mr. Trudeau states. "What we need is an ambitious plan to reduce our emissions.

Trudeau arrived in Paris armed with a powerful mandate from the Canadian electorate, and with substantial provincial backing from British Columbia, Quebec, Ontario, and Alberta. These players comprise more than 80 percent of the economy and carbon output and have already put a price on carbon emissions or soon will. In addition, Alberta has committed to capping emissions generated by the tar sands, promises to phase out coal, and is investing in renewable energies and conservation.

For its part the conference, running until Dec 11, will try to put in place a legally binding, universal agreement or, at the very least, a firmer collective commitment than has heretofore been seen.

More than 140 nations now recognize the danger of global warming and have pledged to take charge. This number includes the world's biggest emitters: China, the United States, and India. While emissions will still grow until 2030, these pledges will certainly slow the process.

Catherine McKenna, Canada's environment and climate change minister, says she wants world leaders to reach a lasting, but only partially legally binding, agreement to stem global warming. "Canada wants an ambitious and effective global agreement," says McKenna. "This means the agreement should be durable and legally binding and it should accommodate different national standards and capabilities."

"We don't expect the targets to be legally binding," McKenna says. "However, we do support the fact that all parties have the legal obligation to submit a commitment under the agreement and also that the commitment will be updated every five years and, in addition to that, they will have a legal requirement to adhere to provisions with respect to transparency and accountability."1

When asked what she is driving at, the minister clarified this does not mean the Canadian delegation will insist that national targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions set by individual countries at the conference be enforceable in international law. The reasoning behind it is because Canada wants - and its dreams of negotiating carbon-pricing schemes across the land will likely require - the U.S. to be a party to any agreement signed in Paris. However, our largest trading partner has strongly signalled that legally binding GHG emissions-reduction targets are not up for grabs.

"Everybody wants the United States to be part of this treaty and there are political realities in the United States," continued McKenna. She was referring to the fact that any legally binding climate treaty in the U.S. would have to be approved by the Republican-controlled Senate, which is essentially a non-starter.2

The U.S. is instead favouring a hybrid approach where some provisions of the agreement, particularly those involving transparency and accountability, would be legally binding whereas the targets themselves would not be. This has been a sensitive issue in negotiations leading up to COP21, as the European Union has been insisting upon a legally binding treaty. At the moment, it looks like this approach will be the one taken by Canada.

The aim of COP21 is to keep the Earth from warming more than two degrees Celsius from pre-industrial times. That's the point at which scientists warn will be threatened by melting ice sheets, rising seas, extreme weather, floods, famine, and drought. But the UN warns that even if countries are able to deliver on all their current pledges, warming will be held only to 2.7 degrees Celsius. "Much greater emissions reductions effort will be required in the time frame after 2025 and 2030," says the UN.

While Canada ranks at the bottom of the top ten emitters in sheer volume of output, the country is one of the worst offenders on a per-capita basis. If the nation genuinely aspires to lead, the game needs to be upped in several ways:3

  • Canada needs a credible target and an aggressive plan to leave a lot of oil in the ground. Trudeau will commit to cut GHGs by 30 percent by 2030 but as it stands, the country isn't even on track to meeting its own 17 percent goal by 2020, likely missing it by a wide margin.

The U.S. in contrast, is halfway to meeting its own 17-percent goal by 2020 and intends to cut its carbon output by 26 percent or more by 2025.

China will cap emissions by 2030 and begin cutting after that.

And India, another long-term heel-dragger, will cut its GHGs by some 35 percent by 2030. Emissions will still grow, but at a slower pace.

  • Canada also needs a national consensus on robust carbon pricing in the CAD30-a-tonne range to kick-start the programme and then begin building on that number over time. At the time of this writing, Quebec's latest carbon auction was CAD17 per tonne. Ontario will also be looking at this price.
  • The country needs an aggressive investment strategy that aspires to a carbo-free economy by 2050. As a start, the CAD2.7 billion in subsidies that Ottawa and the provinces hand out to the fossil fuel industry must be redirected into greener energies.
  • Finally, Ottawa should help subsidize poorer countries to embrace green technologies.   

The environment minister says the new government has not yet figured out the mechanism for enforcing climate change commitments made by the provinces but said everything is on the table,' including new standards for housing and vehicle emissions.

As well as its premiers, Canada's major municipal mayors will be meeting this week in Paris to discuss how towns and cities can be involved in dealing with climate change.

On the face of it, the pan-Canadian framework' Mr. Trudeau hopes to create with the provinces within 90 days of Paris should be bolder than anything talked about thus far. He intends to back it up with effective carbon-pricing policies and investments that will get the job done.

While it is asking for more time domestically, Canada stepped up its game internationally this past Friday by announcing CAD2.65 billion in additional funding over five years to help developing countries combat climate change.

This money is part of a commitment made in the 2009 Copenhagen Accord to devote and annual USD100 billion to these efforts by 2020. This represents a doubling of Canada's previous climate investment. It's efforts like this that makes one proud to be Canadian.
 


1 Joanna Smith. "Emissions targets must be flexible, McKenna says." Toronto Star (November 28, 2015): A6  
2 Ibid
3 Michael Cooke, Ed. "Charting a green future" Toronto Star (November 28, 2015): IN6

For more information

Terry Wildman

Terry Wildman
Senior Editor
terry@electricenergyonline.com
GlobalRenewableNews.com