Question Period Note: Climate Change

Climate Change

• The effects of climate change are already being felt across Canada and around the world, and Canadians understand the importance of taking action to address climate change.
• Canada’s climate plan puts Canada on track for the biggest reduction in carbon emissions in our country’s history. The plan includes over 50 measures including investing in clean energy, phasing out traditional coal power, and putting a price on carbon pollution so that it is no longer free to pollute.
• The Government of Canada recognizes that more action is needed and is working to meet and exceed Canada’s 2030 Paris Agreement target of reducing emissions by 30 percent below 2005 levels, by 2030. In the long-term, the goal is to have Canada achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
• When it comes to fighting climate change, doing less now ends up costing people more down the road.
• That is why the Government of Canada will be implementing new climate measures and seeking expert advice on the best path forward over the longer term.

• According to Canada’s Changing Climate Report (2019), Canada’s climate is warming two times faster than the rest of the world on average, and the North is warming three times faster.
• The international community recognizes that climate change is an urgent priority. The 2015 Paris Agreement was the result of a consensus that, as a global community, we need to keep the rise in global temperature below a 2°C rise from pre-industrial levels.
• Commitments made by countries around the world under the Paris Agreement are insufficient. Current commitments will lead to warming of about 3°C by 2100.
• Net-zero means any greenhouse gases emitted are completely offset by other actions that remove carbon from the atmosphere, such as planting trees.
• The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, Canada’s National Climate Plan, has four pillars: pricing carbon pollution, complementary actions to reduce emissions, adaptation and climate resilience, and clean technology, innovation and jobs.
• The Plan is working. In Canada’s most recent report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – the 3rd Biennial Report – Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions are projected to be 583 megatonnes of carbon dioxide in 2030, which is 232 megatonnes lower than before implementing the Plan.
• Inaction would be more expensive than climate action. The costs of climate change in Canada could escalate from an estimated $5 billion per year in 2020, to between $21 billion and $43 billion per year by 2050.

Question Period notes as provided by the Department to the Minister’s Office