Thursday on the conference grounds of the COP21 climate talks in Paris, the Canadian Youth Delegation criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for failing to meet with them, saying he only provided a photo opportunity to them and didn’t engage in the substantive climate issues that matter to youth in Canada.

The group chanted “youth want to be heard, not just seen” to a crowd of media and onlookers while holding up signs listing a number of core demands for Canadian negotiators including ending the expansion of the oilsands and implementing the recommendations of the truth and reconciliation commission.

Spokesperson Katie Perfitt said, “we are here to call out the Canadian government for only being interested in taking selfies with Canadian youth…and not actually listening to what we have to say.”

Perfitt said the government's lack of engagement with youth and frontline community members at the conference has caused “serious concerns about the Canadian government’s ability to develop sound climate policy that is justice based and in line with climate science.”

Video: Carol Linnitt

“We are serious about climate action and we demand real climate action now from the Canada government,” Perfitt said. 

The delegation's additional demands include Canada reaching zero emissions by 2050, putting an end to fossil fuel subsidies, paying a 'fair share' in the climate treaty process and supporting indigenous-led renewable energy projects.

Delegation member Aleah Loney said, "we're here today to pair our faces with our voices and make clear that including youth means hearing what they're asking for."

Trudeau failed to meet with members of the delegation, including those officially included in Canada's COP21 delegation, before he returned to Ottawa for the opening of Parliament.

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British Columbia has long been celebrated for implementing one of North America’s first — and the world’s most successful — carbon tax regimes.

Yet at the ongoing COP21 climate talks in Paris, Premier Christy Clark is getting a lot of flack for her province’s lack of climate leadership.

Clark’s efforts to develop a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) export industry and her freezing of the province’s carbon tax in 2012 shows just how far B.C. is from being a climate leader, according to Torrance Coste, member of the Canadian Youth Delegation attending the climate summit.

Last week a panel of industry and environmental experts appointed by Clark to review the province’s climate action found B.C. will not meet its own target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions one third by 2020.

“I’m fairly disappointed with what [Christy Clark] is bring forward as part of B.C.’s new climate leadership model,” Coste said. “It’s not building enough on what we’ve done in the past.”

Coste said B.C. has resisted the panel’s recommendation to unfreeze the price on carbon. The panel suggested B.C. raise the carbon tax by 33 per cent in 2018. 

Clark said she would revisit the tax in 2018, but said the government “would only consider an increase in the carbon tax under a regime where emission-intensive, trade-exposed industries are fully protected from any carbon tax increase.”

Clark tweeted about sharing B.C.'s "story on carbon pricing" with other Canadian premiers in Paris. "We are proof you can reduce your emissions & grow your economy."

Telling BC’s story on carbon pricing at #COP21 – we are proof you can reduce emissions & grow your economy. #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/4D6mWs6cS1

— Christy Clark (@christyclarkbc) December 1, 2015

“Bringing in the carbon tax, but not including fossil fuels, isn’t climate leadership,” Coste said.

“Carbon taxes are meant to curb emissions from high-emitting industries like LNG, not to curb emissions from orchard farmers and Lululemon.”

“The fact that B.C. is trying to build a new fossil fuel industry in 2015 and call itself a climate leader — those two don’t square,” Coste said.

Premier Clark’s communications staff told DeSmog Canada she would be unavailable to provide comment.

B.C. Stuck in Climate Past

Merran Smith, executive director of Clean Energy Canada and participant on Clark’s climate advisory panel, said B.C. was an early climate leader, but since the introduction of the carbon tax in 2007, has “largely been coasting.”

“Premier Clark needs to make a clear commitment to continued climate leadership,” Smith said. “It isn’t enough to look back at what B.C. has done and say ‘isn’t that great?’ ”

Smith added Clark “needs to clearly state that her intention is to now build on that success, to continue to lead on climate while building a competitive economy and prosperous communities.”

“If she doesn’t make this clear, I think B.C.’s past leadership will be trumped by the up and comers, like Ontario and Alberta, because they are in Paris championing what they are going to do now, not what they’ve done in the past.”

Smith said the climate advisory panel made a suite of comprehensive recommendations to Clark that would help B.C. meet a new 2030 climate target that will bring the province back on track for its 2050 goals.

Smith said the recommendations were designed with both the environment and the economy in mind.

“The key pieces of the package include increasing the carbon tax while cutting the PST, legislating 2030 reduction targets enroute to our existing 2050 target, and ongoing monitoring of our progress to keep us on track.”

How Trudeau Will Deal With High Provincial Emitters Still a Question

Erin Flanagan, analyst with the Pembina Institute, said B.C. is likely to see high emissions from the LNG industry continue for several years. Those emissions may conflict with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal plan to form a pan-Canadian climate action plan to reduce overall national emissions.

According to Flanagan, who is attending the COP21 in Paris, how Canada will handle provincial emissions for a province like B.C. is still a question.

“If you look at modelling coming out of that province, they’re not likely to hit their 2020 target and they’re not likely to hit their later target for 2025 or 2030. So how do you penalize a jurisdiction that has a very high carbon tax but it’s not enough to [fulfill] its contribution nationally?”

“That’s going to be a tough one.”

Flanagan added Alberta’s new climate plan may put more pressure on B.C. to step up its game.

“Alberta in 2018 will have a $30 carbon tax. So in terms of competitiveness considerations or waiting for other jurisdictions to match policy ambition, that gap is being closed really quickly,” she said. “That’s not a good argument anymore.”

The Clark government has been criticized for favourable treatment of the LNG industry, promising to cut taxes for foreign gas producers and exempting industry from paying carbon tax penalties for certain emissions.  

“If it’s simply a discussion around preferential treatment for different industries, we should probably start calling it that,” Flanagan said. 

B.C. in Danger of Losing Climate Leader Status

“B.C.'s lack of a strong climate commitment so far seems out of step," said David Suzuki Foundation science and policy director Ian Bruce in Paris.

“It's disappointing that a province that once led on climate solutions is in danger of losing its status as world leaders gather for the climate summit,” Bruce said, adding he hopes B.C. will make a new climate announcement while in Paris.

“B.C.’s past leadership on climate change has been one of the best economic and environmental success stories in North America,” Bruce said.

“But without decisive leadership now, the premier will be best known for freezing B.C.’s climate action success. For the sake of the province, I hope she chooses to lead.”

Bruce added that B.C. could regain some climate momentum by implementing the panel’s recommendations and that increasing the carbon tax soon could be timely, given Alberta’s new climate leadership plan.

The David Suzuki Foundation also recommends B.C. prioritize making buildings more energy efficient, pursue zero-emissions standards for vehicles and invest more in public-transit infrastructure.

Image: Twitter

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This is a guest post by Dale Marshall, national energy program manager with Environmental Defence.

There’s a lot of hope for the U.N. climate change summit starting this week. And Canada can play an important role in helping to ensure the Paris summit’s success. 

The goal of the Paris summit, officially called the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21), is for a global agreement on climate action to be finalized. The world has let so much time pass without taking strong action on climate change that many are hoping the Paris agreement will be the one that finally ensures that climate change does not reach truly dangerous levels.

Expectations are high for the Canadian government. Prime Minister Trudeau has signalled that he wants his government to play a constructive role, and contribute to a strong outcome in Paris. Our new report, Canada’s Role at COP21, shows there are several ways that the Prime Minister can lend momentum to the climate summit, where a strong, progressive, Canadian voice can propel the talks forward.

First, the federal government must signal in very clear ways that this is not just a new government but one that takes climate change seriously. The previous government’s pledge for the Paris summit was the weakest in the G7 and assessed as inadequate by two separate analyses — one by four European think tanks and one by civil society groups. The new Canadian government needs to communicate in concrete terms that it will do much more.

There will be a lot of pressure on the federal government to put a carbon reduction target on the table in Paris. This may be difficult given that the government took office just last month, and that the Prime Minister met with provincial premiers just this week. But the climate change announcement of the Alberta government removes what had been one of the biggest barriers to climate action in Canada. A signal from Canada that our current pledge will be strengthened can give forward momentum to the Paris talks.

Second, the Canadian government needs to commit international climate financing to assist poor developing countries who are facing the ravages of climate change. In Copenhagen in 2009, industrialized countries committed to mobilizing $100 billion per year in climate financing by 2020, an amount that is below the cost of the impacts already being faced by developing countries.

The Canadian government has already announced a climate financing package of $2.65 billion over five years. This is a welcome first step but the $800 million pledged in 2020 falls well short of the $4 billion that would be Canada’s fair share of the funding package in 2020. The Canadian government could make up the difference by supporting innovative forms of financing, such as a tax on bunker fuels used in international aviation and shipping. This is something that the Canadian government can do on its own, without buy-in or agreement from the provinces.

Then there are elements that are being discussed in the international climate talks that the Canadian government can support to improve the final agreement. One is a way for global carbon reduction commitments to be strengthened in the near future. Many hope that the Paris summit will deliver everything that is needed to avoid dangerous climate change, but the gap between what has been pledged and what is needed is wide enough that it is unlikely to be bridged at COP21.

As a result, there is a need for a ratcheting-up mechanism to increase ambition and make sure the Paris agreement does not lock in a long period of low ambition. That’s why commitments in the Paris agreement will need to be reviewed, both individually and collectively, on a regular basis. And the first review needs to happen before 2020. By supporting this, Canada would ensure that the global community increased commitments and action until emission reductions were sufficient to avoid dangerous levels of climate change.

Another important element expected in the Paris agreement is a long-term goal the global community will take on. Various options are on the table including a commitment to decarbonize the global economy by 2050. This would mean replacing all existing fossil fuels with 100 per cent renewable energy and sustainable energy access for all. This would go after the root of the problem of climate change — the burning of fossil fuels.

This goal is technologically possible and it appears to be politically possible. Many countries are supporting this goal in the U.N. negotiations. G7 countries almost agreed to it at their most recent meeting in Germany in June, but the former Canadian government played a spoiler role. In this and other ways, the current government can reverse course and support a strong Paris outcome that reflects the science of climate change.

At COP21 in Paris, it won’t be enough for Canada to be a different government. It has to be a different kind of government, one that embraces the important role it can play in the fight against climate change.

Image: Twitter

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It’s already big news that Canada now has a Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna.

But it might be even more newsworthy that McKenna is promising that Canada will be a constructive player at the upcoming UN climate talks in Paris next month.

After years of international scrutiny for playing an obstructive role in international climate negotiations and a former environment minister who performed awkward linguistic gymnastics to avoid using the words "climate change," McKenna’s enthusiasm signals a new era for Canada’s role on the global climate stage.  

Speaking outside Parliament Wednesday after her first day in office, McKenna said she is “really excited” to get down to work on Canada’s climate file.

“It’s going to be a lot of hard work. This is a really important file. It’s a really important file to Canadians — both the environment but also tackling climate change. We need to be ambitious and I’m ready to work hard and get down to action,” McKenna told the CBC. “This is why I got into politics: to make a difference. I have three kids and this portfolio could not be more important to their future.”

When asked to reflect on the significance of adding climate change to the traditional Minister of Environment title, McKenna laughed.

“Well first of all because we can use the term climate change,” she said.

“We believe climate change is a huge problem we need to be addressing. We are certainly highlighting this and we’re going to be taking action right away.”

The Liberal government has yet to release specific emissions reduction targets for Canada, a point of concern for some onlookers who criticize the party for taking former prime minister Stephen Harper’s climate plan to Paris.

That plan, to reduce Canada’s emissions by 30 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030, has been criticized for being weak and inadequate when compared to commitments from other industrialized nations.

Canada’s submission to the UN relies on the use of forestry credits, something Climate Action International said allows Canada to avoid eliminating emissions from fossil fuel sources like the Alberta oilsands.

Currently there is no plan to reduce the climate footprint of the oilsands, Canada’s fastest growing source of emissions although a recent downturn in the global oil economy, paired with a rapidly growing and competitive clean energy sector, may already be changing the fate of high-cost, high-carbon oil reserves.

The first session of Canada’s new Parliament is scheduled for December 3, a few days into the Paris climate talks.

After being sworn into office Wednesday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a crowd outside Parliament, “Canada is going to be a strong and positive actor on the world stage including in Paris at COP21. That’s why we have a very strong minister, not just of environment, but Minister of the Environment and Climate Change.”

Although the Liberal government isn’t armed with the kind of targets most climate advocates would like to see, McKenna said she plans to demonstrate Canada is taking a new approach to climate change.

“Our priority is certainly to show we have an ambitious agenda,” she said, indicating the Liberal government’s full-fledged climate plan is in development.

“We’re going to figure out a plan to make a huge reduction in emissions and show that Canada is back, that we believe that climate change is a massive problem and we need to be playing a significant role to tackle it and that we’re there at the table to play a constructive role with the other governments.”

McKenna also said the federal government will work closely with the premiers to develop a national climate plan.

“We have to have a comprehensive plan.”

“The federal government can’t do this alone, so that’s why we’re working with the provinces,” McKenna said, indicating many of the provinces already have promising climate strategies in place. “We’re playing catch up at the federal level.”

McKenna and Trudeau will lead a team of delegates to Paris that include many of the country’s premiers as well as federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May.

“We’re going to have the provinces at the table and we’re going to come up with a plan that is actually going to make a difference,” McKenna said.

“I’m excited to work with amazing public servants at Environment Canada, working with civil society, businesses to really tackle climate change. It’s exciting.”

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One month from now, arguably the most significant climate negotiations the world has ever seen will begin in Paris — and Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau plans on being there with a gaggle of premiers in tow, a show of Canadian representation unimaginable in previous years.

The COP21 UN-led climate summit is organized around one seemingly impossible outcome: a binding international climate agreement to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark said she has been planning on attending the negotiations for several months. “I’ve already booked my ticket,” she said in a statement e-mailed to DeSmog Canada, adding she’s “delighted” Justin Trudeau will be in attendance.

“I’m delighted…we’ll have a real full contingent. I think almost all premiers are already planning to attend.”

Manitoba NDP Premier Greg Selinger confirmed he will attend the negotiations as well.

“Yes, I think you’re going to see a pretty good turn out this year,” he told DeSmog Canada.

Selinger added: “I just chatted with [Justin Trudeau] and I think it’s positive that Canada is going together. I think it’s good for the country and sends a positive message.” 

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s office also confirmed her attendance, as did the offices of Prince Edward Island Premier Wade MacLauchlan, Nunavut Premier Peter Taptuna and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard.

Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil will send Environment Minister Andrew Younger in his stead.

“It's encouraging that the premiers seem to be interested in attending COP,” Torrance Coste, who will be attending the conference as a member of the Canadian Youth Delegation, said.

Coste added that he’s hopeful that attendance will “translate into serious commitments around carbon emissions reductions and climate action in every province.”

Trudeau Taking a Cautious Approach to Provinces and Climate

In addition to attending the climate talks, Trudeau has promised to convene the provinces within 90 days of the conference to “work together on a framework to combat climate change.”

“There is no one-size-fits-all solution,” Trudeau stated on the campaign trail.

The Liberal party has been criticized for failing to commit to specific greenhouse gas reduction targets — although the party platform does agree with the world’s top scientists and policy makers that temperatures must be kept from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius.

In the week before the election, Trudeau told the CBC he would not commit to specific emissions targets.

“Everybody has thrown out numbers and different targets, and what they’re going to do and what is going to happen,” Trudeau said.

“What we need is not ambitious political targets. What we need is an ambitious plan to reduce our emissions in the country.”

Canada’s current climate commitment, formed under the Conservative government, is to reduce emissions by 30 per cent by 2050 from 2005 levels, a target the Liberals along with climate analysts have criticized as weak and inadequate.

Critics also pointed out that Canada’s total lack of climate legislation means the country is unlikely to meet that target, even though it is much weaker than commitments made by other industrial nations.

Trudeau has promised to work with the provinces on case-by-case basis to address location-specific sources of emissions and appropriate solutions.

A New Post-Harper Era

The approach goes against the grain of the Conservative government under Stephen Harper, which was accused of taking credit at the federal level for emissions reductions achieved by the provinces.

Some provinces even expressed frustration that the federal government claimed to be consulting with the provinces in advance of last year’s climate summit in Peru when those consultations hadn’t actually taken place.

The Harper government also warned the provinces that Trudeau would impose provincial carbon taxes if they agreed to work with the Liberals. But with strong public approval of B.C.’s carbon tax and Ontario jumping on the carbon pricing bandwagon with Quebec, it’s clear that ship has already sailed.

Coste said Trudeau’s approach represents a major departure from the Harper government, “whose hostile approach on climate change was to do essentially nothing at all.”

He added he does have some concern, however, that a lack of consensus between the provinces might act as an impediment to Canada’s meaningful participation on the international stage.

“Will the premiers of, say, B.C., Saskatchewan, Ontario and Nova Scotia all be willing to commit to the same level of climate action? And if they did, would it be the serious commitments that climate scientists around the world are calling for? A big concern is that the new Prime Minister would use a lack of consensus among the premiers as an excuse to not sign a legally binding agreement in Paris.”

"Trudeau has an opportunity in Paris to remake Canada's reputation as an international leader," Tzeporah Berman, B.C. environmentalist and adjunct professor in the faculty of Environmental Studies at York University, told DeSmog Canada.

But to do so will require strong federal leadership, Berman said. "The essential question is whether [the new federal government] will step up to this challenge or leave the Provinces to do all the heavy lifting."

Berman said although it is clear Justin Trudeau will be a very different Prime Minister than Stephen Harper, more than strong provincial policies are needed to reset the stage.

"Our new federal government must set a level of ambition and a floor for the carbon price that ensures we have a coherent National climate plan that Canadians can be proud of in Paris and beyond."

Premiers Optimistic About Working with Ottawa on Climate

The provinces, for their part, seem excited at the prospect of fresh blood in Ottawa.

Premier Clark indicated she supports Trudeau’s province-by-province approach.

“I think that the federal government is really wise to take the course of allowing provinces to lead when it comes to addressing climate change,” Clark said. “Each of us has such different approaches.”

“I think what the federal government is wisest to do, and I think this is what Prime Minister Trudeau was talking about, is making sure the provinces are as coordinated as we can be, make sure that every province is doing everything that they can to lead, but not to start to fiddle with real success that we've seen in some places.”

“Climate change can be a source of innovation,” Premier Selinger told DeSmog Canada. “I think we’re all going to have to work together and I think we’ll see a variety of approaches across Canada.”

Selinger added he is looking forward to seeing a national climate target and more collaboration between provinces in achieving it.

“It’s not going to be perfect, but it’s going to be good to get started.”

Image: Justin Trudeau

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With yet another United Nations high level conference making little real progress on slowing climate change, a near miracle will be required if countries are to reach a meaningful and binding global agreement on carbon emissions in Paris next December.

The ‘Lima Call for Climate Action’ document, agreed to on Sunday by 194 countries, is not a new “deal” for the climate, as conference observer Green Party Leader Elizabeth May pointed out. It is a 12-month work plan leading to the final meeting in Paris.

The conference shifted more responsibility for coping with climate change to the developing world. For the first time, an agreement calls on countries with rising economies, such as China, India and South Africa, to pledge action on climate change along with rich countries.

Developing countries have been expecting the North to provide billions-of-dollars to carry the burden of cutting carbon emissions in the South that are cause by northern industrialization. But a special fund set up for this purpose received barely a mention during key sessions.

One of the few positive advances was a promise that countries already seriously threated by climate change – such as small islands being swallowed up by rising seas – will receive special compensation for their losses.

Following the meetings, a spokesman for the European Union said “we are on track to agree to a global deal” at the Paris summit. But delegates agreed that so much was put off until next year that reaching an agreement will be very difficult.

Many NHOs were very unhappy. A frustrated Sam Smith of the World Wildlife Fund said “the text went from weak to weaker to weakest and it’s very weak indeed.”

2C in danger under this plan

NGOs warned the plan was not nearly strong enough to limit climate warming to the internationally agreed limit of 2C. Even at current levels more than seven-million people, mostly in developing countries, are already dying yearly from pollution. 

Canada, represented by a delegation that included Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq, once again failed to speak out in favor of steps that would reduce carbon emissions. Because it plans to make use of its huge coal reserves, Australia was the other outcast at the conference.

Meanwhile, an Environics survey of 2,020 Canadians last week revealed the public is concerned about climate change. Fifty per cent of respondents were "extremely" or "definitely" concerned about a changing climate, and 78 per cent of those fear the kind of legacy it will leave for future generations.

It is clear that if the world is to have a meaningful climate change agreement 12 months from now, countries need to overcome enormous challenges. For Canada this will mean addressing the Alberta oilsands, the country’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, Canada will need to pitch in to help developing nations make a quick transition to clean and renewable sources of energy.

The new Peru document says that wealthy nations will help developing countries fight climate change by investing in energy technology or offering climate aid. And although the goal of $10 billion in climate finance for the developing world was reached, onlookers are saying vague commitments are likely to get in the way of meaningful climate action from wealthy, developed nations.

Corporate lobby dictating to northern countries

The public interest group Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) said lobbying by powerful multi-national corporations is preventing developed countries from making a stronger commitment to the climate change fight. “Rich countries and their dirty industries are setting the agenda,” the group argues, with corporations and their lobby arms arguing, for example, that strict emissions limits could damage their economies, prolong poverty and limit job-creation.

A new campaign by Peabody Energy called “advanced energy for life” makes the case that developing nations must rely on coal to bring electricity and education to their growing populations. Yet participants at the climate negotiations argued it is precisely the responsibility of developed nations to help the developing world “leapfrog” dirty sources of energy, instead advancing their social well-being and economies with renewables and clean energy.

Because of pro-oil and pro-coal arguments like these the presence of the corporate sector in Lima drew strong criticism from the NGO community. Many groups argued it was inappropriate for Shell Oil to speak at a side event advertising carbon capture and storage (CCS), a still unproven technology, as an actionable climate solution. Oil giant Chevron also sponsored side events alongside the negotiations.

Representatives from the Canadian Youth Delegation argued corporate influence generally dominates climate conversations, suggesting the UN international climate negotiations should be off-limits for industry. More than 80 NGOs attended the talks but were limited in their participation because they were only granted ‘observer’ status.

Leading to even greater frustration from the NGO community, groups wanting to protest corporate influence were required to gain approval from the UN for protest slogans or banner text. The UN ruled that countries and corporations could not be named on any protest materials. A people’s climate march, which drew an estimated 10,000 participants, was held far from the conference grounds and, for all intents and purposes, appeared to have little impact on the proceedings.

NGOs plan to be more powerful in lead up to COP21

NGOs are upset over the limited role they are permitted to play in UN climate talks, as well as the lack of impact they are having around the globe. As a result, the International Institute of Climate Action and Theory released a 118-page document outlining plans to strengthen the movement leading up to and during the Paris conference.

Looking ahead to next year, the Peru agreement calls on countries to show how they intend to cut carbon emissions by March 2015, but there’s no penalty if they fail to do so. Once individual countries outline their emissions reduction plan, the UN will determine if the pledges are enough to limit climate warming to 2C.

Given the track record of most countries of holding back on climate change commitments, it’s likely the UN and all 194 countries will be operating in crisis mode again next year.

For now, delegates are returning home to get some well-deserved rest. But they can be expected to be back working hard right after the New Year, working toward pulling off a miracle in Paris.

Image Credit: El Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores via Flickr

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Canada and every other rich country need to crash their CO2 emissions 10% per year starting in 2014 to have any hopes of ensuring a not-super-dangerous climate for our grandchildren, said Kevin Anderson of Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester.

"We can still do 2C but not the way we're going," Anderson said on the sidelines of the UN climate talks, in Warsaw, Poland.

Anderson wasn't just referring to the lengthy-and-acronym-laden COP 19 process held inside Warsaw's 58,000-seat soccer stadium. It's too late for any normal approaches to emissions reductions. Preventing climate disaster requires a radical measures and our economic system is not up to the task he said.

"Massive amounts of capital needs to be directed towards a low-carbon future straight away."

Not only does that mean governments redirecting the more than $500 billion they spend subsidizing fossil fuels, it means financial institutions and pension funds need to pull their money out of dirty energy and put it into green projects. If they're not willing, then governments will have to make them he said.

And for the next five years most of that money should go into reducing energy consumption. Alternative energy can't be built fast enough or at the scale needed to 100% replace dirty energy sources.

Automobile manufacturers like Kia and BMW already have non-hybrid, non-electric vehicles with double the fuel efficiency of the typical car on the road today. If governments put in tough new efficiency standards, CO2 emissions could fall 40-50% in 10 years he said.

As "pushers of petroleum" the Harper government isn't about to do anything like this said David Cadman, President of ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability), the only network of sustainable cities operating worldwide.

"They don't understand science and are willing to leave future generations with a bleak and nasty world," Cadman told DeSmog in Warsaw.

The practical alternative vision is a green low-carbon future that is different but far better than the present. And cities are leading the way. Currently a group of 441 cities representing 15% of people on the planet are taking concrete action to reduce their emissions said Cadman, a Vancouver city councilor.

Cities like Vancouver, Mexico City, Hyderbad India, Osaka, Japan, and Bangkok have registered their efforts to reduce emissions on an official Cities Climate Registry. The idea is to raise the global level of ambition through taking measurable, reportable, verifiable local climate action. After only two years these cities have now found ways to reduce their collective CO2 emissions by 2.2 billion tons a year.

Cities are amongst the biggest source of emissions but equally important is their role in giving birth to a low-carbon global culture that we need to thrive said Cadman.

"The green way of living will be fairer, more compact, create more jobs, reduce energy and other costs, and be more in harmony with nature and our own true natures. It's the opposite of where we are now where a few get rich."

The climate action by cities and subnational governments (regional and provincial) is finally being noticed at the UN climate talks that are dominated by national governments. Thursday, 21 November was “Cities Day”, a first-of-its kind initiative that bundles numerous city-focused events.

"Cities are central in tackling climate change. They are proving grounds for our efforts in ensuring a low carbon future that benefits people and the planet,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at the opening in Warsaw.

Now that cities are finally inside the UN tent, Cadman hopes their actions will help inspire generally fearful national governments to take ambitious action.

"That won't be enough however. Climate is simply not a priority of national governments. Cities and regional governments have to mobilize the public," he said.

This mobilization means working with civil society organizations, First Nations, business and especially young people.

"We have to work together to motivate national governments to help create a green future for all of us," Cadman told a packed audience on Cities Day.

Time is short. There are just two years before the new climate treaty is signed in Paris. That agreement needs to be the turning point.  We can’t wait for a second chance to keep global temperatures below the 2C threshold.

"Everyone must be involved. Nothing else is more important.”

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WARSAW, Poland — Canada has led the way to scuttle the UN climate talks here in Warsaw, Poland taking with it nearly all hope of keeping global warming to less than 2C say members of various international organizations.

Along with 190-plus nations, the Harper government signed an international agreement to keep carbon emissions below 2C at the UN climate talks in Cancun in 2011. And yet here at these very difficult climate talks to create a new treaty to protect the climate, the Canadian delegation considers the 2C target "aspirational" and not especially important according to sources.

The government's official COP 19 Qs and As webpage fails to mention the 2C target.

Canada has unilaterally walked away from it's international climate commitments including the Kyoto Protocol and the 2009 Copenhagen Accord said Bill Hare, director of Climate Analytics, a German climate science research organization.

Following Canada's lead, Japan abandoned its Copenhagen target last Friday. Meanwhile, Australia under the Abbott government, has gutted its climate policies making it impossible to reach even its inadequate Copenhagen target Hare told DeSmog here in Warsaw.

The Harper government actually congratulated the Abbott government for doing this.

"These countries' promises and commitments are not worth the paper they're written on," said Hare.

This is creating a "very corrosive atmosphere" here. Why should any country trust Canada, Japan or Australia when these countries have no problem walking away from previous commitments he said.

"We're in a downward spiral that's pushing us on a path to 5C a temperature the planet has not seen in 55 million years," he said.

Even a future where the global average temperature is 4C higher means temperatures in southern Canada will be 10 to 12C hotter than the warmest days. Food production will collapse as well most nations says Alice Bows-Larkin, a climate scientist at the UK's Tyndall Climate Center.

"A 4C world must be avoided at all costs," Bows-Larkin said.

This bleak future can be avoided but countries like Canada must cut their carbon emissions 10 percent per year starting now she said.

Instead Canada's emissions are skyrocketing mainly because of the tar sands. Meanwhile the Harper government tells Canadians it takes climate change seriously and is acting.

"As a Canadian I'm ashamed of our increasing emissions and our efforts to block progress on creating a new climate treaty," said Elizabeth May, Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands and leader of Canada's Green Party.

That's probably why the Harper government refused to allow May to be part of the Canadian delegation here in Warsaw. Instead, she is here as a member of the tiny Afghanistan delegation, who are grateful for her knowledgable support in what is a very complex negotiation.

"Rich countries like Canada never talk about staying below 2C," May told DeSmog. "We're walking away from our commitments, even the ones the Harper government made."

She urged Canadians to pressure their MPs, and not just Tory MPs. The Liberals and NDP need to be pushed to take a strong stand on climate she said.

"There is an election coming in 2015. We have to make climate change the key issue." 

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“If people don’t speak out there will never be any change,” says the University of Victoria’s award-winning climate scientist Andrew Weaver. 

And the need for change in Canada, says Weaver, has never been more pressing.

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Canada's leadership is failing to uphold international commitments to reduce the country's emissions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This failure on the global stage is the direct result of Canada's domestic policies, according to the Canadian Youth Delegation to COP18's recent report "Commitment Issues."   Canada's determination to develop Alberta's tar sands constitutes the nation's primary obstacle to progress on climate action. Bitumen extraction in the region "invalidates Canada's commitment to limit global warming to 2 degrees celsius since pre-industrial times and sets a dangerous global precedent for extreme extraction," the report states.   The Canadian government has participated in several significant international agreements and treaties aimed at reducing global levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, given the country's aggressive oil and gas development, these agreements only serve to highlight Canada's disregard for, rather than participation in, international efforts to prevent dangerous global warming.

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