Canada would support international deadlines to eliminate subsidies on coal and fossil fuels, says Steven Guilbeault

OTTAWA: Canada says it would support adding deadlines to phase out coal power and government support for the fossil fuel sector in the final deal at the United Nations climate summit in Scotland, as negotiations aimed at preventing the catastrophic extremes of climate change dragged past the conference’s planned conclusion on Friday.

Speaking on the last scheduled day of the COP26 conference in Glasgow, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said the Canadian delegation is pushing for a “strong” agreement that ensures that actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are strong enough to slow the rise in average global temperature. at 1.5 C at the end of the century.

Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have said that the world has already warmed 1.1 ° C, and that further increases will lead to more damaging consequences such as rising sea levels and increased floods, droughts, storms and forest fires.

The main objective of the summit is to ensure that it is still possible to limit warming to 1.5 C, although efforts to reach an agreement have paid off. obstacles this week. More than 190 participating countries continued the talks until late Friday night, with an ongoing debate on various topics. These include: how much money will rich countries provide to poorer nations to cope with and account for the damages of climate change; rules for trading credits for emission reductions between different countries; a call to continue raising emissions targets by the end of next year; and a demand for countries to accelerate plans to phase out coal power and fossil fuel subsidies.

That last point raised objections from climate activists and some participating countries after the last draft The deal, released Friday morning, had updated language that referred only to “non-stop” coal power and “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies.

Tina Stege, the Marshall Islands’ climate envoy, said the final deal must include strong language on fossil fuels and a clear demand to remove “all” government support for coal, oil and gas.

“Fossil fuel subsidies are paying for our own destruction,” he told the conference Friday afternoon.

When asked about the new language around coal power and fossil fuel subsidies, Guilbeault acknowledged the concerns about the terminology, but did not criticize it. Instead, he pointed to Canada’s own promise to phase out coal power by 2030, saying Canada would be “very comfortable” with a final deal that includes the same deadline for all countries.

He also said Canada would agree to a joint timetable for eliminating fossil fuel subsidies, as it has promised to eliminate “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies by 2023. That promise does not include the billions of dollars that corporations take. The Crown as Export Development Canada still provide the domestic oil and gas sector each year, although Guilbeault said Friday that it would cover government subsidies that increase fossil fuel production in Canada.

Meanwhile, the United States urged participating countries not to weaken the current draft of the agreement. US climate envoy John Kerry told the conference that the US supports the language around phasing out coal power and fossil fuel subsidies.

“To avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis, we have to act now,” said Kerry.

“How could we in 2021, knowing what the evidence is, be insecure about that issue? Those subsidies have to go away. “

He also defended a provision that asks countries to “review and strengthen” their 2030 emissions targets by the end of next year, something Canada says should only apply to countries that have not updated their targets since 2015.

The IPCC says annual emissions from around the world must fall to 45% below 2010 levels by 2030 to limit warming to 1.5 C.

Canada’s current goal, updated earlier this year, is to reduce emissions by at least 40 percent over the next nine years, a goal that the federal government says is consistent with a 1.5 C pathway.

“It is our North Star. This is what we are here for, and Canada has been very supportive of a text that is very strong at 1.5 degrees Celsius, ”Guilbeault told reporters on Friday.

Climate activists in Glasgow this week, however, have criticized what they describe as a lack of ambition and urgency shown in drafts of the final deal so far. A report released by the Climate Action Tracker consortium determined that current targets are too weak to achieve what is necessary by 2030 to maintain a path to 1.5 CY on Friday, a group called Friends of the Earth urged countries to strengthen the agreement for countries to commit. to phase out all fossil fuels, not just coal.

“We need to keep not only coal, but also oil and gas, safe in the ground,” Mary Church, campaign manager for Friends of the Earth Scotland, told reporters in Glasgow.

Catherine Abreu, executive director of the Canadian organization Destination Zero, also denounced how the latest text, which she said, was diluted with “weasel words” about the phasing out of coal power and fossil fuel subsidies.

Another point of contention in the closing hours of the conference was the failure to raise the promised amounts of money from the richest countries to help the developing world deal with climate change. Canada was tapped, along with Germany, to try to raise $ 100 billion in “climate finance” for developing countries, a level that was promised in 2009 to be reached in 2020.

However, that threshold is now expected to be reached three years late, in 2023, a fact that was noted with “concern” and “deep regret” in the draft agreement published on Friday. The draft called on countries to “at least double” crowdfunding to help developing countries adapt to climate change.

Canada has already pledged to double its planned contributions to help developing countries cope with the climate to $ 5.3 billion over the next five years. Guilbeault’s office has said that 40 percent of this money will go towards adaptation, helping poorer countries improve their infrastructure to better withstand the realities of global warming.

But countries like Belize, Tuvalu and Ecuador say that this adaptation money is not enough and that developing nations need financing for “loss and damage” that they have already experienced from the impacts of climate change. Friday’s draft agreement included a section that recognized this need and urged developed countries to increase funding in this area.

When asked about “loss and damage” on Friday, Guilbeault said he does not expect “new financing mechanisms” to be created, but expressed confidence that an agreement can be reached.