Trudeau says climate progress was made at the G20, although Canada wanted a more ambitious plan

Article content

ROME – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada wanted a stronger and more ambitious agreement on climate change to emerge from the G20 summit.

Article content

Today’s final statement from the two-day meeting remained vague on the deadline for countries to achieve net zero carbon emissions or to phase out energy from coal.

But Trudeau says the summit managed to make “significant progress” by recognizing that countries must aim to keep global warming at 1.5 C.

He says progress was also made in at least recognizing that phasing out the use of coal and methane is critical to fighting climate change.

Trudeau says that the fact that G20 leaders were able to meet in person for the first time in 18 months to focus on the issue was progress in itself.

He is heading from the G20 to Glasgow for the United Nations climate conference, known as COP26, and Trudeau says Canada will continue to work with like-minded partners to come up with more ambitious goals.