By Elishya Perera
OTTAWA (CU)_Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be announcing what is considered to be a more ambitious climate target during President Joe Biden’s climate summit on Thursday (22 April). According to Radio-Canada, the new goal is to exceed a 40 per cent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels, by 2030. This commitment is considered to be more ambitious since Canada’s national climate plan released in 2016 set out a target of reducing emissions by only 30 per cent.
Radio Canada also reported that according to a government source, the Trudeau government intends to show Canadians that the country can in fact have an ambitious climate agenda, while showing the rest of the world that large oil producers can also have a concrete plan on climate action.
However, the rest of the world may not consider Canada’s new commitments to be so ambitious, as the American government has made it clear that a target of less than 40 per cent would be frowned upon.
Nevertheless, during the conference on Thursday Canada will also announce other climate initiatives which will be launched by Ottawa, including increased collaboration between the Treasury Board of Canada and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, in order to make the practices of their governments more environment friendly.
Moreover, PM Trudeau will urge rich countries to provide assistance to developing nations to meet their targets on carbon emissions.
