Speech

 

Good afternoon,

It is a pleasure to be here today to participate in this discussion on international climate change policy. My remarks will focus on the dynamic between international negotiations and national interests from a Canadian perspective. 

There is indeed a strong interplay between these two.

• As an Arctic nation, about 40 percent of our land mass and freshwater is located in a northern environment that is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
• While national interests such as ours encourage domestic action, international negotiations also play an important role in stimulating national action. Each nation must do its part and strong leadership at the national level of government is essential.
• And within each nation, in order for citizens and businesses to individually and collectively agree to the measures necessary to tackle climate change, they need to be convinced that their measures will be complemented by concrete and effective action from other countries. That necessitates international agreement.

We also need to be very cognizant that we are negotiating a new climate change agreement that will take effect post-2020.

Today, the international context is very different from what it was like in 1990. And it will be different still post-2020.

There have been major shifts in the sources of emissions. Emerging economies today make up a much larger share of the world’s emissions and that balance will continue to shift.

Thus, the new climate change agreement that we are negotiating must include concrete actions from all major emitters to reduce emissions.

That’s something that was recognized in the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action. This platform puts, for the first time, all of us under the same tent discussing an agreement that would involve the widest possible cooperation by all countries and be applicable to all Parties.

The Durban Platform is a remarkable step forward and we are already advancing on this platform. We elected two strong co-chairs, from India and Norway, to advance the negotiations, we established a solid agenda, and started a very positive and productive dialogue at the Bangkok Inter-sessional negotiations in late August.

And, last month the world’s largest economies came together at the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF) in New York City to discuss key negotiation issues and facilitate continued progress in Doha later this year. This too was a very positive dialogue. I am confident that our work will lead to a fundamental reframing of how all countries can, and must, contribute.

As a complement to the United Nations framework and negotiations, I would like to note the work that is going on to reduce short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon, methane and ozone. 

This work is important as it allows us to take near-term action globally to reduce greenhouse gases. Canada and its continental partners, the United States and Mexico, were founding members of the new Climate and Clean Air Coalition to take action on short lived climate pollutants. 

The Coalition has now been endorsed by the G8 leaders and expanded to include almost two dozen countries including, I would note, our United Kingdom hosts here. In addition to the immediate climate impact of the work of the Coalition, the very nature of the collaboration has positive spill-over effects for the United Nations negotiating process.

And now to the national aspects.

What gives us the room to take the time to negotiate the new Durban Platform is the fact that the Durban Platform builds on the Copenhagen Accord and the Cancun Agreements. It is under these agreements that Canada and many other countries have taken commitments on 2020 targets. Delivering on these commitments is key to progress on a new post-2020 agreement.

Canada’s 2020 target is very ambitious—minus 17 percent emissions from 2005 levels by 2020. This target matches that of the United States which is important since our economies are integrated much like the European economy. This target is also comparable in its level of ambition to that taken by the European Union.

For this reason, we are aligned closely with the United States in order to maximize greenhouse gas emissions reductions and maintain economic competitiveness at the same time.

For example, our successful alignment with the United States on transportation sector standards means that the average greenhouse gas emissions from the 2016 model year passenger automobiles and light trucks will be about 25 percent less than the vehicles that were sold in Canada in 2008. We are now building on the existing 2011-2016 regulations to develop new standards for the 2017-2025 period.

We have moved together on standards for heavy trucks and recently Canada also published regulations for the marine sector.

Canada is a federation and provincial and territorial governments play an instrumental role in reducing emissions.

Under our domestic plan, we are developing and implementing a sector-by-sector regulatory approach and we are working with the provincial governments who are also taking action to reduce emissions.

Canadian governments have combined efforts to reduce electricity emissions through a range of measures to shift away from high-emission sources of electricity, expand renewables, and reduce demand through energy efficiency.  

As of this September, Canada became the first major coal user to ban construction of traditional coal units to generate electricity and establish a performance standard for those units at the end of their economic life.

This combined effort is paying off. Greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector are now projected to decline by a third between 2005 levels and 2020, despite significant increases in economic activity and electricity production over this period.

And our National Inventory Report demonstrates the success Canada is beginning to have in de-linking the economy and emissions allowing us to have both economic growth and lower emissions. Between 2005 and 2010, this report shows that Canada’s GDP growth was 6.2 per cent while greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 6.5 per cent.

Collectively, our efforts have already brought Canada half way to achieving the overall greenhouse gas reduction targets to which we committed under the Copenhagen Accord.

As a next step, we have already begun working in conjunction with the industry and other stakeholders to address greenhouse gas emissions in the oil and gas sector.

Canada will proceed with the systematic, consultative approach we’ve used to date with particular emphasis on environmental monitoring.

That will ensure that we have the best quality scientific data against which to benchmark and inform future development—especially in the oil sands.
They’ve garnered considerable international attention despite the fact they only represent seven percent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.

In closing, let me repeat that Canada remains fully committed to doing our fair share to address climate change at home and abroad. We have an approach and we are confident that it is working. We know this because we are already halfway to meeting our Copenhagen commitment. I look forward to continuing to work with all major nations at the next Conference of Parties (COP) towards advancing a fair and effective global agreement.