Question Period Note: Canada's Climate Plans

Canada's Climate Plans

• Over the past six years, the Government of Canada has demonstrated its leadership on climate change and clean growth, at home and abroad.
• Canada invested more than $100 billion to address climate change since 2015.
• Canada established two significant climate plans: the the 2016 Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, and the 2020 strengthened climate plan with over 60 new federal measures.
• Thanks to these measures, along with strengthened alignment with the U.S., Canada is on a path to achieving significant emissions reduction by 2030.
• In July, Canada adopted an enhanced 2030 emissions reduction target of 40-45% below 2005 levels.
• Under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act Canada is committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, with a transparent and legally-binding process to guide implementation.
• To further illustrate our commitment, at COP26, Canada announced new measures:
o a commitment to cap Canada’s oil and gas emissions at the pace and scale needed to achieve net-zero by 2050;
o working with provinces, territories, industry, and other stakeholders so that Canada’s electricity grid achieves net-zero emissions by 2035;
o working toward ending exports of thermal coal by no later than 2030; and,
o signing onto the Global Methane Pledge, as well as pledging to reduce oil and gas methane emissions by at least 75% below 2012 levels by 2030.

• Canada has made significant progress to address climate change. Since 2016, the Government of Canada has committed roughly $100 billion to climate action and clean growth and with the release of A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy in December 2020, the Government of Canada announced a number of new actions and new investments to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

• Through measures announced in the strengthened climate plan, investments up to Budget 2021, and additional actions, including strengthened alignment with the United States, Canada is positioned to reduce its emissions by about 36% below 2005 levels by 2030.

• Canada’s new 2030 target of 40-45% below 2005 levels is ambitious, required and achievable—reflecting both the scale of the climate crisis and economic opportunity that climate action presents.

• Canada is also committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, which received Royal Assent on June 29, 2021, provides a durable framework of accountability and transparency to deliver on this commitment. The Act aligns Canada’s 2030 target with its Nationally Determined Contribution submission (40-45% below 2005 levels), and requires the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to set subsequent targets for 2035, 2040, and 2045, at least 10 years in advance. The Act holds the federal government accountable as it charts Canada’s path to achieve net-zero emissions by establishing a transparent process to plan, assess, and adjust the federal government’s efforts to achieve our national targets based on the best scientific information available. It also provides for public participation and independent advice and review with respect to those efforts.

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