Canada joined a powerful new negotiating bloc of countries coordinating a push for a strong, legally binding climate agreement at the Paris COP21 negotiations.

This week Canada joined the High Ambition Coalition of both rich and poor countries after entering into dialogue with the EU to learn more about the initiative, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna’s office told DeSmog Canada.

The Coalition, which the Guardian first reported has been meeting in secret for six months, includes 79 countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific as well as the EU and the U.S., which joined the group on Tuesday. News is just breaking that Brazil has also joined the illustrious group.

Within the negotiations the Coalition is calling for a clear long-term temperature goal in the Paris climate treaty, as well as strong review rules and a system for keeping track of how well nations are meeting their climate targets.

Canada’s allegiance to the ambitious group comes at a critical time, as lead negotiators are working around the clock to finalize an agreement that will set the agenda for international climate policy for years, even decades, to come. It’s the final countdown.

"I am encouraged by the continued progress we made overnight,” McKenna said in a statement released to media. “We're seeing good cooperation around the table on many of the issues Canada has pushed for throughout the negotiations; for instance the commitment to ratcheting up our ambition every five years, and to transparency in each country's reporting process. These are crucial to our long-term success.”

McKenna added the draft text negotiators are working to finalize includes both a reference to keeping global temperatures to “well below two degrees Celsius” as well as “pursuing efforts to limit increase to 1.5 degrees.”

On the opening day of the Paris negotiations over 100 countries, including several groups of small island nations, called on negotiators to craft an agreement that would align with new science that indicates a temperature increase of above 1.5 degrees could spell disaster for low lying island nations.

“Canada has advocated for this recognition of the urgency of the threat to small-island states, like the Marshall Islands with whom we now stand as part of the High Ambition Coalition,” McKenna said. “The Coalition brings together developed and developing countries from around the world as we lay the groundwork for a safe climate future.”

McKenna, who is one of 14 international ministers tasked with facilitating the negotiations, added Canada continues to advocate for the inclusion of human and indigenous rights in the agreement.

“We're entering the home stretch now,” she said. “I am hopeful the final days and hours will see all parties with me at the table and working together to conclude this agreement. And that this agreement will become a new pathway to a greener economy and a cleaner planet."

Image: Twitter

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On Wednesday a group of international ministers and delegations worked through the night refining a fresh draft of the text that will form the world’s first global climate treaty.

Major redline issues around the treaty’s long-term target — whether it limits warming to 1.5 or two degrees Celsius — as well as climate finance, loss and damage and transparency kept negotiators up until 6am Paris time as countries worked towards a level of compromise that will not threaten the world’s most vulnerable countries with catastrophic climate impacts. 

Yet, among the high-level talks, Canada stepped in to raise another crucial issue: the potential exclusion of indigenous rights from the text of the agreement, expected to be agreed Friday.

Catherine McKenna, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, spoke before a plenary hosted by French President Françoise Hollande late Wednesday night to implore international leaders to make reference to human and indigenous rights in the Paris climate agreement stronger and permanent.

“The agreement must recognize adequately the importance of respecting human rights and the rights of indigenous peoples,” McKenna said.

Indigenous Rights Uncertain in Climate Treaty

Last week negotiators placed the only reference in the draft text to such rights within square brackets. This means it is contested and could eventually be removed from the final agreement. Indigenous leaders at the climate talks say they want to see a climate deal that not only acknowledges the unique rights of indigenous peoples but that traditional lands, cultures and practices have been greatly impacted by climate change.

In addition, indigenous groups want to ensure a new low-carbon plan is not used to by governments to justify controversial hydro, wind or other projects.

“We are deeply concerned that the reference to human rights and rights of indigenous peoples…is under brackets,” McKenna said, recommending the reference be “unbracketed as we move forward.”

McKenna further called for human and indigenous rights to appear in the “operational paragraphs” of the text as well as in the agreement’s introduction, where it currently sits. The introduction is not legally binding.

“This is critically important to us,” McKenna said.

Last week indigenous groups observing the negotiations revealed countries including Norway, the United Kingdom and the European Union were working to remove mention of human and indigenous rights from the agreement.

Saudi Arabia and the United States have argued specifically against the inclusion of human rights, saying the language could open up unnecessary liabilities in an agreement that, they argue, is only supposed to be about environment.

These efforts have led observers to suggest the talks are being held up by what some have described as human and indigenous "rights deniers."

At a press briefing hosted by representatives from indigenous communities across the globe, Frank Ettawageshik with the Native American Rights Fund said: “A climate change agreement that does not recognize the rights of indigenous peoples and human rights for all would be a failure.”

“It’s disappointing that we have to fight as hard to get this point across,” he said, adding he believes nations are using indigenous and human rights as a bargaining chip.

“It’s a constant fight for this,” he said. “We’re trying to reinforce those who are enforcing it, and get those people who are standing in the way to at least step aside long enough to let this be a part of the agreement.”

Indigenous Groups Fight for Inclusion in Climate Talks

“Many of our Indigenous peoples still live off the land, living a subsistence-based lifestyle,” Princess Daazhraii Johnson from the Neets’aii Gwich’in in Alaska said this week.

“And given that many of the world’s fossil fuel reserves are on or adjacent to Indigenous lands, we must protect our collective rights to self-determine our relationship to Mother Earth by rejecting false solutions to addressing climate change,” she added.

Johnson, who is also a spokesperson with Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL) Alaska, said it is critical both human rights and, separately, indigenous rights remain within the text.

“The inclusion of the rights of Indigenous Peoples text, in addition to Human Rights text is crucial,” Johnson wrote in a press release. “A Western, non-Indigenous evaluation of Human Rights does not necessarily adequately protect our rights as Indigenous Peoples.”

Crystal Lameman, Treaty Coordinator and member of the Beaver Lake Cree nation in Alberta, said she feels like a discussion over whether or not to include indigenous rights in the climate treaty is retrogressive.

“It’s like being hurtled back 30 years into the past,” she said at the venue of the Paris climate talks.

The Beaver Lake Cree is currently engaged in a major legal challenge against the cumulative impacts of oil extraction in the Alberta oilsands, which has negatively impacted the community’s rights to hunt, gather medicines and fish according to a historic Treaty 6 agreement.

“Right now I’m fighting for the very future of our children, the next seven generations to come.”

“It’s important as indigenous woman that comes from the tar sands,” Lameman said.

“It’s important as an indigenous woman who comes from Treaty 6 where we live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet — the northern boreal forest — where every single thing a human being needs to survive is right there,” she said. “That’s what were here on the ground in Paris to fight for, the very essence of who we are as indigenous peoples.”

Lameman said it has been difficult to stand by while states negotiate her children’s rights.

“Indigenous peoples don’t have a voice [in the negotiations] when we’re the first people to impacted by climate change. The people who are on the frontlines are the first people to feel the effects of climate change and we’re being exclude from those negotiations.”

“That’s like stabbing me in the heart,” she said.

Indigenous Peoples, from Arctic to Small Islands, Affected by Climate

On Wednesday a group of indigenous peoples from both Arctic and island states called on leaders in Paris to keep temperatures from warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Both low-lying islands and Arctic regions are suffering extremely early impacts of melting sea ice and permafrost as well as sea level rise.

“We are deeply concerned about the impacts of climate change on sea ice and our way of life,” Nunavut Premier Peter Taptuna told reporters this week. Taptuna joined the government of Greenland as well as the Inuit Circumpolar Council in a call for a climate agreement that recognizes the disproportionate effects of climate change in the Arctic.

The Inuit Circumpolar Council Chair Okalik Eegeesiak said the agreement should draw from the experience of indigenous peoples who are “most directly impacted by climate change.”

Members of the Indigenous Environmental Network, say the inclusion of indigenous rights in the treaty text is important for ensuring climate solutions don’t negatively affect traditional lands and ways of life.

Large-scale hydro projects, such as the contentious Site C dam in British Columbia, can flood traditional territories, and wind farms can affect the seasonal migration of reindeer which are a critical part of some indigenous cultures in the Arctic.

Ariel Deranger, member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation down river from the Alberta oilsands, said an inclusion of indigenous peoples rights in the agreement may help guide appropriate solutions.

“At the moment the rights of Indigenous Peoples all over the globe are being violated by ‘green climate projects’ — such as hydropower dams — in the name of ‘climate mitigation,’” she said.

“If such violations are happening now, imagine what will come with a legally binding document, where the rights of Indigenous Peoples are not guaranteed.”

Lameman said Canada and Alberta have both clearly stated their intentions to ratify the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a legal document some say supersedes whatever emerges in the climate treaty.

“This is your time to prove it,” Lameman said, addressing Canada’s leaders. “This is your time not to use words but to take action and ensure Canada is one of the loudest voices in those rooms.”

“You have an obligation to ensure it — that those other states are hearing Canada and they’re hearing it on behalf of indigenous peoples of that nation.”

Image: DeSmog Canada/Keri Coles

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Alberta Minister of Environment Shannon Phillips says her province is being celebrated on the international stage for its climate leadership.

“Alberta has put in place a robust set of policies and we are now leaders in the country and on the continent in terms of action,” she told reporters in Paris on Wednesday.

The province of Alberta is participating in the Canadian delegation to the Paris climate talks alongside many other provinces including B.C., Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

Philips says when it comes to its international reputation, Alberta has “turned the page.”

She added Alberta’s positive reception in Paris can be attributed to the new NDP government’s change in tone.

“We’ve demonstrated that it can be done: that rational, drama-free conversations as energy producers can be had and that leadership can come out of that.”

Last month Alberta announced a new climate plan that places an absolute cap on oilsands emissions, the phase-out of 18 coal-fired power plants and the establishment of a province-wide $30 per tonne carbon tax.

Creation of the plan brought together a broad range of environmental organizations and industry representatives. At the plan’s unveiling, Premier Rachel Notley was flanked by oil executives from some of Alberta’s top producing companies as well as members of the environmental movement.

“We’ve had broad recognition that Alberta needed to change how it approaches these matters,” Phillips said.

“The policies that preceded us at both the provincial and federal level…were mistaken.”

Phillips said Alberta’s new approach has opened the province up to more frank discussions with international trading partners.

She said new leadership “allows us to walk into the economy of the future instead of turning our back on all of that investment and economic growth that is very clearly on the horizon for the entire planet.”

At the COP21 climate talks in Paris nearly 200 countries are aiming to deliver an internationally binding climate agreement that will mandate the eventual decarbonization of the world's economy.

Alberta to Remain Oil-Producing Province

Phillips was quick to add that Alberta will not stop producing oil any time soon.

“Everyone understands that Alberta is in a unique position,” she said. “Everyone equally understands that Alberta has taken a leadership role and we are willing to work collaboratively with everyone in the Canadian federation and the federal government to ensure Canada does its fair share.”

On Tuesday Phillips said federal ministers are responsible for deciding Canada’s climate commitments within the internationally binding agreement currently being negotiated in Paris.

She told reporters Alberta has done enough to strengthen its provincial climate plan. “We have taken our share of responsibility.”

Canada’s current climate commitment, developed under the former Conservative government, requires a 30 per cent reduction in 2005 level emissions by 2030.

However, in Paris, Canada’s government has come out in support of stronger climate targets, which aim to prevent global temperatures from increasing above 1.5 degress Celsius. The current target, used in previous climate negotiations, requires countries to keep temperatures from rising two degrees.

When pressed on Alberta’s contribution to Canada’s rising greenhouse gas emissions, Phillips said an oilsands cap of 100 megatones of emissions is “appropriate” for “a heavy oil producer that powers the rest of the Canadian economy.”

Alberta Climate Plan Not Yet Implemented

She added her government has yet to implement the policies outlined in the new climate plan.

“We’ve put forward a very robust policy architecture that we’re very proud of,” she said. “Our job is to execute that.”

She added a change in investment priorities, with new efforts being made to support clean tech and renewables, will also influence Alberta’s emissions output.

Phillips also said her party campaigned with a promise to “implement the principles and guiding philosophies of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

“We’re serious about those matters,” she said, adding a more collaborative and engaged approach with First Nations can play a role in the implementation of those principles.

“This is the beginning of a conversation about how we are going to move forward in Alberta,” Phillips said.

“We are six, seven months into our mandate and we’re talking about 35-year timelines here,” she said. “A lot can change in that time.”

“What we have done is put in place a set of policies that will allow us to lead and allow us to reduce our emissions.” 

Image: Facebook

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This weekend represents a major transition point in the COP21 Paris climate talks.

Negotiators who have been working away to shorten and clarify an international climate treaty will now pass on a draft text to ministers and their lead negotiators for an intense final week of high-level deliberations.

The nearly 200 countries involved in the talks hope to finalize a document by next Friday. There is still a tremendous amount of work to be done.

The key issues for all parties include climate finance — how wealthy countries will help developing nations transition off of fossil fuels and adapt to climate impacts — as well as loss and damage (which includes the issue of insurance and compensation), human and indigenous rights and whether the global climate treaty will lock in a 1.5 or two degrees of warming target.

A final issue has to do with the legally binding nature of the climate treaty and how the progress of countries — whether or not they are sticking to their own commitments — is reviewed (this issue is generally called MVR: monitoring, verification and review).

So here’s a quick overview of what we know about Canada’s view on each of these hot button points.

Climate Finance

Canada entered into the climate talks last week on a high note after agreeing to contribute $2.65 billion to the Green Climate Fund over the next five years for developing countries to transition to clean energy and cope with climate impacts.

In his opening speech on the first day of the talks, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a crowd of international heads of state, “we believe that climate finance is critical.”

However, according to ‘fair share’ metrics that outline what percentage of climate finance Environmental Defense calculates a rich country like Canada should actually contribute $4 billion — every year.

The goal for vulnerable and developing countries is to have a perpetual $100 billion fund replenished annually by wealthy nations. This figure is recognized as a floor rather than a target for climate finance, meaning contributions into the fund should be expected to grow over time.

A major sticking point throughout the first week of negotiations is how to calculate what countries should pay, when and how that will be enforced on an international scale.

During press briefing representatives of Canada’s negotiation team told members of the press, “It’s no secret that climate finance and support for vulnerable countries is critical” to the talks.”

“Ambition, long-term vision and giving assurance to countries that we will be there to support them is critical to getting this agreement right.”

It’s interesting to note that Canada currently provides 79 times more funds in fossil fuel subsidies than contributions to the Green Climate Fund, according to Alex Doukas from Oil Change International.

Loss and Damage

Developing countries, which have historically placed very little greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, are suffering a disproportionately high amount of climate impacts.

Loss and damage is a mechanism to provide vulnerable nations with compensation for climate impacts they cannot simply adapt to.

“It’s about rising oceans, increasing pace of desertification, glaciers melting, land not being productive,” Harjeet Singh, international climate policy manager with ActionAid told COP21 attendees during negotiations last week.

Traditionally Canada has not been eager to support vulnerable countries deal with the impacts of climate change. This year, however, Canada highlighted “support for climate resilient development and adaptation in countries that need it” in its list of COP21 priorities.

It’s unclear at this point what position Canada will take on loss and damage during the coming week. The U.S. recently indicated it will not bear any legal compensatory responsibility or liability for damages in vulnerable countries. It is likely Canada will follow the U.S.’s lead on this issue.

Human and Indigenous Rights

Last week indigenous leaders from across the planet were outraged by the efforts of several nations including the E.U. and the U.K. to remove reference to human rights and indigenous peoples in the climate treaty text.

According to representatives of indigenous nations speaking on a panel hosted by the Indigenous Environmental Network, Friday these countries put the ‘s’ in the term indigenous peoples into brackets for potential erasure.

Crystal Lameman, member of the Beaver Lake Cree nation in the oilsands region of Alberta, said this felt like hurtling indigenous peoples 30 years into the past.

Canada has indicated that it is taking a strong position on this issue, working to keep human and indigenous peoples rights in the treaty text.

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is an international treaty, which has been ratified by many nations. Canada’s Liberal government, which has plans to ratify the treaty soon, has been pushing hard in negotiations to retain the reference to human and indigenous peoples.

According to a new study, indigenous peoples around the world are the most effect managers of the world’s forests which represent a massive global carbon sink. In addition, indigenous communities are often at the front lines of both energy development and climate impacts.

For this reason, the indigenous rights network at COP21 in Paris, are fighting for clear reference to indigenous rights in the climate treaty, saying no true climate justice can be had by excluding indigenous rights.

1.5 or Two Degrees of Warming

Representatives of Canada’s negotiating team told press last week that ambitious mechanisms for emissions reductions are “crucial to get right” in the text.

Canada has not officially come out in support of the 1.5 degree warming target even though the vast majority of nations participating in the talks have done so. Nor has the new Liberal government outlined their specific climate commitments now that the Conservative government is no longer in power.

Trudeau has been roundly criticized for bringing Harper’s climate commitments to Paris. Those hoping the Liberal government would announce a more specific climate plan were left disappointed during these first week of talks. Although Trudeau’s speech at the outset of the negotiations indicated Canada is willing to play a constructive role in the negotiations and will work with other countries to stay within the two degrees of warming target.

Legally Binding Treaty

In Canada’s list of priorities for COP21, the government states it is in support of a “durable, legally binding agreement.”

However what aspects of the climate treaty are legally binding has been the source of much disagreement at during negotiations.

Before heading to Paris, environment and climate change minister Catherine McKenna told members of the press Canada would not support legally binding carbon reductions because the U.S. was unlikely to do so with a Republican-dominated Congress.

"Everyone wants to see the United States be part of this treaty," McKenna said. "There are political realities in the United States … they cannot have legally binding targets. We don't expect that the targets will be internationally legally binding.”

What burden of responsibility countries will bear under the climate agreement was a major source of contention over the last week and will likely continue to be so going forward.

What role Canada will play on this issue will likely be set by the U.S.’s position. 

Monitoring, Verification and Review

Canada has placed a lot of emphasis on transparency in monitoring, verification and review, saying a “common robust transparency and accountability approach” will go a long way towards providing assurances that “parties are doing what they set out to do.”

Getting this part of the climate agreement right is crucial for the “trust and confidence needed to enhance cooperation between parties,” Canada states in its list of COP21 priorities.

Canada has not previously supported any rules that require Canada to do more than other countries to reduce emissions. The E.U. and the U.S. have shared that position, saying they want common rather than differentiated rules.

Yet the current rules for reporting are too weak, Bill Hare chief executive of Climate Analytics told the Guardian.

Hare said going forward with the reporting requirements in place would means a “complete failure at the Paris talks.”

“It would mean we couldn’t check or track what developing countries are doing,” he said. “There would be no way of knowing what was happening.”

Image: David Meenagh via Flickr

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Even though the COP21 climate talks in Paris only began Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already made waves, thrusting Canada back onto the international stage amid excitement and applause.

Yet climate experts are quick to point out Trudeau has a lot of work to do to bridge the gaps between the talk and the walk when it comes to meaningful climate action.

The international climate negotiations ongoing in Paris will continue on until the end of next week and onlookers will have to wait to know what shape the final outcome will take.

But for now, here are five numbers you need to know to understand Canada’s role in the world’s most important climate negotiation to date.

Two Degrees

The climate talks are intended to bring more than 190 countries to a binding international agreement on climate action designed to prevent the world from warming more than two degrees Celsius.

Although, on the first day of the summit over 100 countries signed a declaration calling upon the global community to keep global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Canada so far supports the two degree target, although Trudeau and his delegation have yet to reveal the new federal government’s climate commitments. The current commitments, formulated under the former Conservative government promise to reduce the country’s emissions 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2050 — although no specific policy measures have been announced to show how Canada will achieve that target (which has been criticized as weak compared to other developed nations).

90 Days

Trudeau surprised Canadians by taking a large and diverse delegation to Paris for the climate talks. In addition to Canada’s new Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, and Foreign Affairs Minister Stephan Dion, Trudeau invited all of Canada’s premiers.

To fight climate change, we’re all in this together. Canada is back. #COP21 pic.twitter.com/atvk3L09C8

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) November 30, 2015

Trudeau has repeatedly stated that Canada’s emissions can only be tackled by working closely with the provinces and tailoring regional climate plans that address the unique challenges each province faces.

Although a strong showing of support for the climate talks signals positive attention, the real policy work will take place in just under 90 days when the prime minister will meet with the premiers to discuss the nitty gritty details, including targets for clean energy and emission reductions.

Number One Globally

Critics of climate action often argue Canada’s overall emissions are just a drop in the bucket and don’t require bold policy measures.

But the World Resources Institute ranks Canada as the highest per capita polluter in the world, when taking into account emissions from land use and forestry.

According to a recent report by James Hansen, the former NASA scientist that first brought climate change to the world’s attention in 1988, Canada is fourth when it comes to cumulative per capita responsibility for emissions.  

The World Bank lists Canada in the top 15 emitters of carbon dioxide per capita. And according to the Pembina Institute, if Alberta were a country it would have the highest per capita emissions in the world. 

$2.65 Billion

Canada hasn’t been a positive force at the COP climate talks in recent years. This year, however, Trudeau surprised the climate community by announcing Canada will contribute $2.65 billion to the Green Climate Fund, up from just $300 million under the former Conservative government. (Interestingly this figure is less than the $3.6 billion Canada spends every year subsidizing the fossil fuel industry. )

Money from the Green Climate Fund will go toward helping developing nations transition to renewable energy, adapt to climate impacts and develop greenhouse gas reduction plans.

In his opening remarks on the first day of the climate talks, Trudeau told a crowd of media and dignitaries: “We believe that climate finance is critical. Our commitment to $2.65 billion over five years towards initiatives will help developing countries reduce their emissions and adapt to climate change. These efforts can bring about transformative change through increasing access to energy and poverty alleviation.”

Two Decades

The UN-led climate talks have been ongoing for 20 years. During that time, countries have found it impossible to agree on how a single path forward can suit the interests of so many diverse countries.

According to energy economist Mark Jaccard from Simon Fraser University, one of the most important things Canada can do at COP21 is be realistic about why previous climate talks have seen so much failure.

In the lead up to the COP21 talks, around 150 countries submitted their ‘intended nationally determined contributions’ or ‘INDCs.’

Jaccard says wealthy countries need to strengthen their INDCs and work together (through mechanisms like a shared carbon price) to meet their commitments. He added the wealthier countries could provide incentives (climate financing) to developing countries as a way of encouragement to meet targets.

But individual country commitments don’t really matter unless there is clarity about each country’s progress.

Jaccard recommends Trudeau take his transparency agenda to Paris in order to push for more accountability on a nation-to-nation level. Canada can join other countries asking for an agreement that requires countries to consistently review and improve their climate action.

Image: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with French President François Hollande via Flickr

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told international dignitaries that “Canada is back,” Monday in his speech at the opening of the COP21 climate talks in Paris.

Trudeau told the crowd, “our government is making climate change a top priority and our actions will be based on five principals.”

Trudeau promised first to proceed with climate policy “based on the best scientific information and advice” adding, “second, we will support and implement policies that will contribute to the low-carbon economy and this will include carbon pricing.”

"Third and very importantly, we will work with our provinces, territories, cities, and indigenous leaders who are taking a leadership role on climate change,” he said.

“Indigenous peoples have known for thousands of years how to care for our planet. The rest of us have a lot to learn and no time to waste.” He added that Canadian cities also have much to teach government how to “create clean growth and combat climate change.”

Video: Zack Embree

On Tuesday environment and climate change minister Catherine McKenna hosted a working lunch with Canadian indigenous leaders including Okalik Eegeesiak, chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, Chief Bill Erasmus from the Assembly of First Nations and David Chartland, vice president of the Métis National Council.

“Fourth, we will help the developing world tackle the challenges of climate change.”

Canada impressed the international community by announcing an increase in contributions to the green climate find to $2.65 billion from a previous $300 million under the Conservatives.

“Many of the world’s most vulnerable countries have done little to contribute to the problem but face the most significant consequences,” Trudeau said. “And all countries deserve the right to develop and this development can and should be base on access to clean energy technologies.”

Bill Gates congratulated Canada for increasing its pledge to support developing nations in their transition to clean energy.

Canada joined Gates and a handful of other investors in Mission Innovation, a collaboration of 20 nations to accelerate the clean energy revolution.

Trudeau said Canada is ready to “take on a new leadership role internationally.”

“We will participate in collaborative initiatives, such as Mission Innovation and the carbon pricing leadership coalition and we will seek out opportunity to work bilaterally or multilaterally beginning with our North American partners.”

“Finally, we view climate change not just on the challenge it is but also as an historic opportunity: an opportunity to build a sustainable economy based on clean technology, green infrastructure, and green jobs.”

“We will not sacrifice growth: we will create growth.” 

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As the COP21 climate talks get underway in Paris, Canada is enjoying a newfound place in the international spotlight.

Canada announced today it will contribute $30 million to finance climate projects in the world’s least developed countries as part of a larger $2.65 billion pledge that will support the transition to low-carbon energy sources in developing nations.

This contribution is a significant overhaul of Canada’s previous $300 million pledge under the Conservative government.

“Canada recognizes the importance of supporting adaptation action in the most vulnerable countries, which are struggling with the impacts of climate change,” Catherine McKenna, environment and climate change minister, said. “We are proud to be part of this joint effort to further support the Least Developed Countries Fund.”

Even Bill Gates expressed his appreciation for Canada's larger pledge.

With @BillGates & @JustinTrudeau before "mission innovation": mobilisation for research in clean energy #COP21 pic.twitter.com/c8fdoqMySt

— Ségolène Royal (@RoyalSegolene) November 30, 2015

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also told media Canada still has work to do.

“We have a tremendous level of action and commitments made, and we know we have work to do, which is why we started the work of getting together even before coming to Paris," he said.

Trudeau added Canada has an opportunity to become a “purveyor of solutions” and put forward “innovative thinking” at the climate talks.

Speaking alongside other heads of state, Trudeau said, "Canada is back my good friends we’re here to help!" to applause.

Federal Green party leader Elizabeth May said Canada’s broad delegation to the talks, which includes Premiers, Ministers and members of the opposition, points in a positive direction.

“First Nations and NGOs are invited to participate the way they used to,” May said. “It’s back to normal. It’s how it used to be.”

“I think we and all Canadians should work as hard as we can to put together new targets, new commitments to financing, and re-ratify the Kyoto protocol in order to have access to new clean energy.”

"Everyone is waiting to see what 'New Canada' will do."

May added she hopes to see Canada’s delegation push for a strong agreement, including a mandatory review of countries’ progress every three years.

She also hopes to see more legally binding language in the treaty.

“We know the targets won’t be legally binding but the architecture of the treaty should be legally binding — and that’s still in square brackets,” May said.

She added, “everyone wants to see what New Canada will do.”

Canada has previously played a positive role in the climate negotiations.

“As the past has shown, Canada can punch above its weight for good, but can also punch above its weight for bad when it wants to sabotage progress,” she said.

“I think the public mobilization and citizen movements need to keep pushing government. In the context of the horrors of what happened in Paris people can get easily distracted by terrorism but as terrifying as ISIS is, climate change is a much bigger problem.”

“Climate changes is relevant to unrest in Syria through drought,” she said. “We need to keep pushing.”

Image: Flickr

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Earlier today at a meeting of Commonwealth nations in Malta, Prime Minister Trudeau announced that his government would increase its Green Climate Fund commitment to $2.65 billion.

Here's a quick rundown what that actually means.

The Green Climate Fund was set up as part of the United Nations climate negotiation process, with a goal of raising $100 billion from both the public and private sector by 2020. The wealthiest countries at the negotiating table have been under pressure to contribute more money to the Green Climate Fund. 

The idea behind the Green Climate Fund is to overcome a major sticking point in the UN climate treaty process, which is that developing nations are being asked to invest in renewable energy technology and take measures to reduce the impacts of climate change, but do not have nearly the money needed to do so. 

The money raised for the Green Climate Fund will be spent on projects that help developing nations in regions like sub-Saharan Africa adapt to the impacts of climate change, as well as put in place their own greenhouse gas mitigation plans.

Earlier this year, former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced his government would commit $300 million to the Green Climate Fund. This announcement was not met favorably, considering Canada is the 10th wealthiest nation in the world, and that other countries have commitmed much more. The U.S. has pledged $3 billion and Japan, Germany, France and Britain have all pledged over $1 billion to the Green Climate Fund.

With today's announcement by Prime Minister Trudeau, Canada has not only become one of the largest contributors to the Green Climate Fund, but it also will put a lot of pressure on other wealthy nations at the upcoming UN climate summit in Paris, to commit for the first time, or re-up the commitments they have already made. Looking at the pledge tracker maintained by the Green Climate Fund, Trudeau's commitment (in U.S. dollars) puts Canada second only to the United States when it comes to overall amounts committed.

As for Trudeau, he will now be coming into the Paris negotiations on a wave of positive momentum, both domestically and internationally, but will still be put to task over other major issues that Canada is still considered weak on. Three big issues that remain unaddressed are:

1) Canada's overall reduction target and stated year to meet that target,

2) whether Alberta's oilsands will be included in any nation-wide greenhouse gas reduction commitments, and

3) if a cap-and-trade type system is to be implemented, at what "floor price" will taxes on emissions start.

All very big issues, and while it is unrealistic for a government so early in its mandate to commit outright to all these things at the Paris climate summit starting this Monday, observers will be looking for further details on what a final Canadian action plan on climate change might look like.

Image: Flickr

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Mark Jaccard is professor of sustainable energy at Simon Fraser University.

The other day I heard an environmental advocate argue that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needed to make an ambitious commitment at the UN Paris climate summit (COP 21) to atone for all the “climate fossil” awards won by our previous prime minister. I’m not so sure.

Remember when newly elected President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize? He hadn’t yet done anything. Apparently the Nobel committee bestowed the award simply because he was not George W. Bush. In the same vein, Trudeau will be welcomed because he is not Stephen Harper.

I am not saying, of course, that Trudeau should just go to Paris and smile. But to make a real contribution, he will need to be brutally honest about why UN negotiations have failed for over two decades and equally honest about why Canada’s emission reduction efforts have also continuously failed.

For a start, politicians like Trudeau must see past the “fossil fuels are evil” rhetoric of some environmentalists. The reality is that coal, oil and natural gas are fantastic forms of energy that have played a critical role in improving humanity’s material conditions over the past two centuries, a period that has seen a doubling of human lifespans in wealthy countries.

Politicians from developing countries know about the wonders of fossil fuels. How can they not, after witnessing China’s remarkable transformation from one of the world’s poorest countries to an economic powerhouse in just two decades? From 1990 to 2010, its economy and its coal consumption grew apace at close to 10 per cent a year. As a result, its CO2 emissions grew almost as fast, making it the world’s largest emitter.

Trudeau must also grasp that reducing greenhouse gas emissions, especially CO2 from burning fossil fuels, is what policy analysts call a “global public good.” Within national boundaries, citizens pay for public goods like roads and national defence by sharing the cost through tax contributions to government. People don’t agree how much tax each should pay (rich versus middle class, corporations versus individuals), so government decides. If we had a global government, it would determine what each country should contribute to the cost of preventing climate change, with a binding mechanism to ensure compliance. But we don’t have a global government. So almost 200 countries try to agree on the contribution of each and on the compliance mechanism to ensure that contribution. They’ve been unable to agree for over 20 years.

They’re unlikely to agree at Paris.

Paris and the Self-Interest Bias

The main reason they cannot agree is that countries, like individuals, have a self-interest bias when viewing evidence related to fairness. Richer countries say they are willing to give a “fair” level of assistance to poorer countries, such as India, to avoid China’s CO2-intensive development path, thereby foregoing unrestrained fossil fuel combustion in favour of hydro, solar, wind, biofuels, nuclear and fossil fuels (if capturing the CO2). But their idea of a fair level of assistance is dramatically lower than what poor countries think it should be. So poor countries are unwilling to accept binding reductions.

These differing perceptions of fairness have plagued climate negotiations. At Copenhagen, in 2009, all countries agreed that humanity should limit global CO2 emissions so that the average temperature would increase no more than 2⁰C, a level beyond which scientists fear we may pass tipping points that lead to uncontrolled changes and horrific damages. But politicians at Copenhagen could not agree on how to parse the global limit into emission limits for individual countries.

So they punted this decision to this year’s Paris meeting — another way of saying “let future politicians figure this out, because we sure can’t.”

In the run-up to Paris, each country was asked to volunteer a target for its own emissions in 2030, what are referred to as “intended nationally determined contributions” or “INDCs.” (Each COP seems to create fresh terminology for old concepts. In this case, an INDC previously was a “voluntary commitment” or a “nonbinding emission target.”) Over 150 countries have set INDCs. Not surprisingly, however, analysis of these shows that even if all countries achieved their target, the resulting emissions path would rocket past the 2⁰C limit.

So there is the conundrum.

Countries are willing to set nonbinding emission targets. But these targets fail to meet our 2⁰C climate objective. Developing countries might be willing to tighten their targets if developed countries paid their costs of foregoing fossil fuels. But so far the amount on offer is not close to what developing countries say they require.

So what is likely at Paris? And what can Canada contribute?

Overcoming the Climate Stalemate

Continued stalemate that fails to achieve 2⁰C is one possible outcome, although this might be dressed up to appear like a success. This dress-up could include patting developing countries on the back for their first INDCs, substantial funding commitments from wealthier countries to help them deflect slightly from the fossil-fuel path, and a hopeful-sounding concluding document that talks about future processes for reviewing and tightening the INDCs of developed and developing countries.

A more promising outcome might already achieve some tightening and co-ordination of the INDCs of wealthier countries — perhaps through agreement on a minimum carbon price that each country should apply domestically — and an agreement by developing countries to tighten their INDCs in order to receive substantial (but still not sufficient in their eyes) financial transfers from wealthier countries. The sum of the combined INDCs of all countries might still exceed the 2⁰C path, but it would represent enough of a game-changer that the Paris negotiators could legitimately claim some success.

This may sound promising. But how can we be sure that it truly represents a game-changer in the global climate effort? In particular, do the INDCs really indicate what each country’s emissions will be in 2030?

How Can Canada Make a Difference?

This is where Canada can make a contribution. The reason, sadly, is that our prime ministers have been making INDC-type commitments for almost 30 years — with complete failure. We’re experts at setting voluntary targets and failing to achieve them. So we should be experts at spotting others who try the same thing.

In the late 1980s, Brian Mulroney set a voluntary target for Canadian emissions in 2000. We missed it by a country mile. But by then Mulroney was long gone. In 1997, at Kyoto, Jean Chrétien set a voluntary target for 2010 emissions. He too was long gone when we blew that target. Then, in 2007, Harper set a voluntary target for 2020. He too won’t be around for the day of reckoning, but the Auditor General already noted in 2013 that we won’t achieve his target (or even his 2009 revised softer target for 2020). One of Harper’s last acts was to set our INDC target for 2030 earlier this year (a 30 percent reduction from 2005 levels). Amazingly, he kept a straight face when making the announcement.

Unfortunately, it gets worse.

Hard Policies Are Essential. Everything Else is Fluff

Not only did we set INDC-type targets, we actually implemented major policy initiatives that were promised to achieve the targets. The big challenge was to give each new initiative a unique name; hence, the Green Plan (1990), the National Action Program (1995), Action Plan 2000, the Climate Change Plan for Canada (2002), Project Green (2005), EcoEnergy (2007) and Turning the Corner (2008).

Once he got a majority in 2011, Harper dispensed with the farce of creating new climate initiatives, although he saw no need to admit that his targets were fiction as they were for a future date probably beyond his political shelf-life. Like his predecessors, he was certainly right about the timing.

People who assess energy-economy policies — like me and my colleagues around the world —agree on why every single one of Canada’s policy initiatives failed.

Information and incitation campaigns, labels on fridges and cars, a few subsidies to energy efficiency and wind turbines, and a host of Rick Mercer commercials will not really reduce emissions.

The only policies that reduce emissions are: (1) a rising carbon tax, or (2) a declining hard emissions cap (probably with tradable permits), or (3) increasingly stringent regulations on emission-causing technologies and fuels, or (4) some combination of these three types of “compulsory policies.”

This is all that is needed. Everything else is fluff, including government spending programs.

If anything good is to come from Canada’s three-decade climate-policy charade it is the lesson that voluntary INDC-type targets are delusional unless intimately tied to one or two of the three compulsory policies listed above, and independent experts confirm that their level of stringency ensures achievement of the target. Canada needs to insist at Paris on the establishment of an independent policy review mechanism that reports annually on the likely achievement of each country’s INDC, given the policies that country is implementing. This would be a substantial contribution.

Trudeau should also tell the world that a reformed Canada now intends to be a model for effective climate policy that achieves targets. This won’t mean a lot at this stage, since people know about our track record. But the global climate effort is a long-run project.

If Canada produces domestic climate policy that, by design, is guaranteed to achieve its 2030 target, this will garner a lot of weight in the years to come.

Although Stephen Harper made it sound difficult to hit a national emissions target, it isn’t. You simply mandate a national cap on emissions that equals the 2030 target. Then you roll up your sleeves and allocate the cap among provinces or economic sectors, including a mechanism to ensure regional fairness in hitting the cap. Finally, but most importantly, you delegate the task of monitoring and review to an arms-length, highly visible oversight institution, like the Auditor General, and perhaps delegate some regulatory authority to ensure government achieves its legislated commitments, as California does with its Environmental Protection Agency. (I will elaborate in a subsequent article focused on domestic climate policies.)

Trudeau Should Bring His Transparency Agenda to Paris

While this focus on mechanisms for determining whether domestic policies will achieve the INDC promises would be an important contribution by Canada at Paris, it is not sufficient.

Canada should also argue for international mechanisms and actions that are realistic — as I noted at the outset — in view of the attractiveness of fossil fuels and the global-public-good nature of the challenge. Just as our domestic climate policy must strongly incentivize the use of technologies and fuels that do not emit CO2, the same is required of the global climate policy mechanisms issuing from Paris.

Thus, Trudeau should push at Paris for the creation of a transparent policy review process that provides an annual report card on the effectiveness of each country’s climate policies. And he should insist on a direct link between that policy performance and the slate of financial incentives offered by the international community.

For example, funding support for developing countries should be tied to the effectiveness of their domestic climate policies, as indicated by their annual report card. And countries with failing grades — whether developed or developing — should be threatened with and eventually subject to trade measures, such as higher tariffs on their goods. Some people don’t want to talk about trade measures. But those who are serious about an effective global effort know that we cannot avoid this discussion.

Indeed, the Waxman-Markey clean energy bill, which was passed by the United States House of Representatives in 2009 but not the Senate, included a mechanism to increase the effective tariff on imports from countries whose climate policies lacked the stringency of the U.S. policy.

Finally, while supporting the effort in Paris for comprehensive international mechanisms that apply to all countries, Trudeau should recognize the value of separate bilateral and multilateral agreements between jurisdictions willing to show real climate policy leadership. These “clubs” can provide models that other countries might one day emulate or join. In 2005, the Europeans constructed an emissions cap-and-trade system for industry.

While naysayers denigrate this policy, it is working fine and will be tightened rather than eliminated as new European countries join. And thanks to Quebec joining California’s cap-and-trade in 2014, and Ontario about to join next year, Canada has a golden opportunity to extend this system nationally, uniting 35 million Canadians with 35 million Californians in a cross-border cap-and-trade system applied to virtually all fossil-fuel-related greenhouse gas emissions. This 70 million-strong club could be a significant force for change — and other American states could well join.

You may notice that I have omitted one issue. I have not discussed the specific target Trudeau should commit to at Paris. Hopefully my reason for this omission is obvious. While the target should of course be achievable, it’s the policies that count.

That message is the most valuable contribution Canada can make at Paris.

@MarkJaccard

This article originally appeared on Policy Options.

Image: Flickr

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

As leaders from around the world head to Paris in December for the COP21 UN climate negotiations, they do so with the burdensome knowledge that this is it: the big year. More than 190 nations will try to reach an internationally binding climate agreement to prevent the globe from warming to catastrophic levels.

Such high stakes haven’t pressed upon the negotiations since 2009’s Copenhagen climate summit, widely regarded as a failure after wearied countries fled the conference without producing a strong international agreement.

Perhaps that’s why this year there is little patience for the influence peddling of the world’s major fossil fuel companies, all of which are eager to play a role in the conversation.

Nearly 400,000 people have signed a petition to bar “big polluters” from the talks.

The petition, organized by Corporate Accountability International, argues the summit should be protected from corporate interests and becoming a platform for companies intending to “block progress, push false solutions and continue the disastrous status quo.”

The petition is just one of a number of public efforts designed to showcase the negative influence of industry groups on climate talks, their historic bad behaviour and a growing international impatience for meaningful climate action.

Corporate Bad Behaviour in Spotlight

The recent effort to limit the influence of industry at the upcoming talks come on the heels of an allegation that ExxonMobil intentionally deceived the public about the dangers of climate change.

Recent investigations reveal Exxon knew about the existence of ‘potentially catastrophic’ climate change since the 1970s but chose to keep that information hidden. The company is being widely criticized for misleading the public about the influence of human activity and the use of fossil fuels on the global climate.

Both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, leading presidential candidates for the Democratic party, as well as house Democrats have called for an official investigation of Exxon and now leading environmental groups, civil rights organizations and climate campaigners among others are spearheading an international call for further investigation.

Companies like Exxon are being spotlighted by Friends of the Earth France in a new ‘Pinocchio Climate Award,’ which targets industry groups most responsible for preventing or delaying action on climate.

The nominees are corporate sponsors of the COP21 climate talks, including BNP-Paribas, EDF and Engie — all of which will be judged in the Pinocchio Awards for their lobbying activities, promotion of false climate solutions and harmed caused to communities for the sake of profit. The ‘winners’ for each category will be announced at a public ceremony in Paris during the climate talks.

Industry’s “Charm Offensive” Little Help Against Critics

While members of the public cast their votes cast against major industrial polluters, companies also face an increased level of scrutiny for public relations stunts seemingly designed to purchase social favour in the lead up to Paris.

The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, an effort of 10 top CEO’s from the energy sector, was called a “final charm offensive” before the climate talks by Reuters,

InfluenceMap, an organization that tracks the lobbying and activities of industry groups, called the initiative an attempt by leading energy companies to “improve their image in the face of longstanding criticism of their business practices” ahead of the talks.

A recent report by InfluenceMap shows many top companies in the oil and gas sector publicly support climate action but subvert those same efforts through anti-climate lobbying and the work of trade organizations.

In September a group of European investor institutions worth a collective $66 billion called on nine multinational companies to sever relationships with EU trade groups known to lobby against climate policy. The companies pressured to cut ties with the anti-climate lobby include COP21 sponsor EDF as well as BHP Billiton, BP, Glencore, Johnson Matthey, Proctor and Gamble, Rio Tinto, Statoil and Total.

Corporate Europe Observatory, an organization exposing lobby power in the EU, has already criticized the “climate unfriendly” sponsors of this year’s event, indicating France may be making a critical mistake in welcoming corporate influence.

"Most of these companies are big emitters of the very greenhouse gases responsible for climate change, such as EDF or Engie whose coal plants alone are equivalent to nearly half of France's entire emissions," said Malika Peyraut of Friends of the Earth.

“Putting the most important climate conference of the decade under the patronage of climate-incompatible businesses does not bode well.”

Fossil Fuel Industry’s Controversial Influence at Climate Talks

Pushback against industry influence at the UN climate talks has been ongoing for years.

In 2011, the Polaris Institute released a report outlining how “multinational corporations and their lobbyists have infiltrated the United Nations and are influencing the outcomes of climate negotiations.”

The report demonstrated industry’s influence as a driving force behind market-based rather than regulatory solutions to climate change.

In 2013, civil society groups, trade unions and environmental organizations staged a massive walk out of the climate talks in Warsaw, Poland, arguing corporate sponsorship was threatening the independence and purpose of the event.

Last year at the COP20 climate talks in Lima, Peru, more than 53,000 individuals signed a document that called on the UN Climate Secretariat to ban fossil fuel corporations and lobby organizations from the talks.

“The fossil fuel industry is actively lobbying against climate action and standing in the way of progress. When you’re trying to burn the table down, you don’t deserve a seat at it,” Hoda Baraka, global communications manager for 350.org, said at the time.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.