Leaders Summit on Climate: WWF-Canada applauds Canada’s adoption of tougher emission targets
Announcement also acknowledges crucial link between protecting nature and fighting climate change
WWF-Canada welcomes the government’s announcement at the Leaders Summit on Climate that Canada will be raising its ambition on carbon emission reduction targets, to 40-45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. This is a crucial commitment in the fight to keep global temperature rise below catastrophic levels.
Just as crucial is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s acknowledgement that nature plays a vital role in absorbing and storing carbon to fight the impacts of the climate crisis, including Canada’s pledge to protect 30 per cent of our lands and oceans by 2030.
When paired with decarbonization, nature-based solutions not only help us meet our carbon reduction targets and adapt to devastating climate impacts already underway, they also benefit habitat and wildlife to fight the concurrent extinction crisis. With populations of species at risk of extinction continuing to decline in Canada, this kind of urgent action is needed.
Megan Leslie, president and CEO of WWF-Canada, said:
“Raising Canada’s emissions reduction targets to 45 per cent by 2030 is welcome news, as is the Prime Minister’s acknowledgment of the vital link between protecting nature and fighting climate change. If we’re going to meet these aggressive goals, we can’t talk about climate change without also talking about nature-based climate solutions. Restoring and stewarding ecosystems that capture and hold carbon, and supporting Indigenous-led conservation, are essential to battling our concurrent climate and biodiversity crises.”
WWF-Canada applauds the government’s new emissions targets, which, in addition to a $4.1 billion investment announced in Monday’s federal budget, sets a trajectory for the potential recovery of nature and biodiversity in Canada.
About World Wildlife Fund Canada
WWF-Canada creates solutions to the environmental challenges that matter most for Canadians. We work in places that are unique and ecologically important, so that nature, wildlife and people thrive together. Because we are all wildlife. For more information, visit wwf.ca.
