Canada falls to last amongst G8 on climate action
Here is a sobering thought to consider as Canada prepares to assume the Presidency of the G8 following this week’s meeting in Italy: Canada has for the first time replaced the United States as the worst performer on tackling climate change among G8 nations. This was revealed in the recent G8 Climate Scorecard, released jointly by WWF, the global conservation organization, and the global insurance company Allianz.
The report confirms recent events in North America: there is a new worldview in the U.S. as they rejoin the global community, while Canada continues with the “no, we can’t” approach adopted by successive Canadian governments.
The fact that the U.S. is rapidly leaving Canada in its wake on climate change is particularly important, as Canada’s political leaders have repeatedly claimed that Canada couldn’t afford to move faster or further than our major trading partner.
If that argument ever had any merit, it certainly doesn’t now as we bear witness to the difference that political leadership can make.
More has been done in the U.S. in the last six months than in the last 30 years. We have seen tough new standards for greenhouse gas emissions from cars introduced by the Obama administration. There have been massive investments in energy efficiency, green power and public transit. A renewed respect for science, backed up by key appointments and new funding. Climate legislation that will cap emissions from large industrial polluters has been passed by the House of Representatives for the first time, and could become law before the international negotiations over a new global deal on climate action in Copenhagen later this year.
The U.S. remains far short of the level of emissions reductions that are needed, and much remains to be done, but it is a remarkable record of achievement in a short period of time.
Perhaps most important, Washington will bring these deeds, and not just words, to Copenhagen as proof of a renewed commitment to join the global community in stepping up the fight against climate change.
The Government of Canada, in the meantime, has not only backtracked on its commitment to regulate industrial greenhouse gas emissions by January 2010,[1] but has threatened to challenge both the new California low carbon fuel standard[2] and the U.S. federal efforts to reduce carbon pollution[3] under international trade law.
Some of the reasons for Canada’s intransigence on climate change are easy to understand. As noted in the G8 Climate Scorecard, there is no path forward that will allow for both the rapid expansion of the tar sands and for Canada to achieve the kinds of reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say are necessary to avoid climate change. This stumbling block will have to be cleared if Canada is to join G8 leaders in contributing to a solution.
The Scorecard shows that none of the G8 countries have yet solved their carbon emissions problems. But there is evidence of a more considered approach in Europe and now the US, with concrete steps taken and planned to prevent the worst effects of climate change and leave a better world for our kids. In this respect, Canada remains an outlier.
The Canadian government is placing an “all-in” bet that the tar sands and other fossil fuels will power the Canadian economy for the foreseeable future. This bet is based on a large number of assumptions that are increasingly untenable or uncertain: that unproven and expensive technology will emerge quickly enough to reduce our emissions, that other nations will take on extra emissions reductions on our behalf, and that we have more time to prevent the worst effects of climate change than most scientists predict.
Even worse for Canadians, we risk missing out on a once-in-a-generation opportunity to join and lead a green job revolution.
Given recent actions in the U.S, it is an increasingly lonely bet. Even if we win, Canadians may not be interested in claiming the prize: a future in which Canada is the energy sweatshop to the world, where countries import our energy while turning a blind eye to standards that they would never permit within their own borders.
As we prepare to participate in the Copenhagen climate summit in December and to host next year’s G8 meeting in Huntsville, we should be taking the longer view and build a legacy of a green economy that will make Canadians proud. The good news is that progress in the U.S. shows how much can change, and how quickly, with a simple change in mindset, from “no we can’t” to “yes we can”.
