opposition from its powerful energy sector. Nevertheless, it appears that PM Trudeau’s administration has failed to address the matter with the required level of urgency, as the country was name “the worst performer of all G7 Nations” in the fight against climate change.
These allegations were made by none other than Canada’s very own Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Jerry V. DeMarco, who published his critical report on vitriolic on the country’s “action and inaction” on climate change, over the past 30 years. “Canada was once a leader in the fight against climate change. However, after a series of missed opportunities, it has become the worst performer of all G7 nations since the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted in 2015”, the Commissioner said in a statement Thursday (25 Nov). “We can’t continue to go from failure to failure; we need action and results, not just more targets and plans.”
He noted that while several commitments made by government after government to significantly reduce the country’s carbon emissions, over the past three decades, these commitments have failed to translate into real reductions in net emissions. “Instead, Canada’s emissions have continued to rise,” DeMarco noted.
The Liberal government responded to the allegations in a joint statement, which claimed that much had been done since their party first came to power in 2015.
“In 2015, Canada’s emissions were on a steep climb, projected to be 12 per cent higher in 2030 than they were in 2005, despite Canada’s international commitment to reduce emissions by 30 per cent by 2030. The Commissioner’s retrospective analysis of Canada’s record on climate action paints a vivid picture of the mammoth undertaking by the Government of Canada in 2016 to slow, stop and reverse this upward trend of emissions,” the statement read.
It went on to point out that “more than one hundred” measures that directly impact greenhouse gas emissions, including “pollution pricing” had not been taken into account in commissioner’s analysis.
