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The Canadian government has announced a new target to reduce planet-heating emissions 45-50% from 2005 levels by 2035, despite its official advisors on the Net Zero Advisory Board (NZAB) recommending a 50-55% goal and climate campaigners calling for an 80% cut.
The new target is in addition to an existing goal to cut emissions 40-45% by 2030. Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said the 2035 target “keeps us on track to keep the promise to our kids and grandkids that the world we leave behind for them will be safe, sustainable, affordable and prosperous”.
But the NZAB, which the government consulted on the new target, said in a statement on Thursday that “the lower range of the government’s target risks Canada’s ability to stay on track for net-zero emissions”. “Our modelling and analysis showed that targets below 50% will put Canada behind on its legislated objective of net-zero emissions by mid-century,” it added.
The NZAB is made up of nine Canadians, including campaigners, a financier, an electrical engineer, an Indigenous community leader and a climate scientist.
The board warned that “postponing action means requiring even deeper decarbonisation efforts in the future, which could bring higher risks and costs”. “We need a national effort to reach, and ideally surpass, a 50% reduction by 2035 while ensuring climate policies are affordable for Canadians,” it said.
All countries that signed up to the 2015 Paris Agreement are supposed to submit a more ambitious national climate plan – known as a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) – to the United Nations by late next year. The Canadian government confirmed that its new 2035 target will be part of its NDC, but the full document will not be published until 2025. A concrete implementation plan to meet the target will be drawn up by December 2029, it added.
International comparisons
The NZAB compared Canada’s 2035 target unfavourably with other similarly wealthy nations like the UK, which recently set a target to cut emissions by 81% between 1990 and 2035 “following the recommendation of its climate advisory group, the Climate Change Committee”. The board added that the EU is expected to choose a 2035 target in a similar range and Japan has recently proposed a 60% reduction target, in order to stay on a pathway to net-zero.
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NZAB member Catherine Abreu, who is director of the International Climate Politics Hub, noted that Canada’s target envisions at most a 1% a year decrease in emissions between 2030 and 2035, a pace of reduction she called “frankly pathetic” when the US, UK and EU cut their emissions 3%, 5% and 8% respectively in 2023.
She added that the “incredibly disappointing” target will damage Canada’s global credibility as it “sticks out like a sore thumb amidst the targets that other G7 nations are putting forward”. “It’s painful to see a government that has spent most of the last decade working hard to revolutionise Canadian climate policy put out a target that projects those policies will fail to do what they’re designed to,” she said in a statement.
Oil an obstacle
The Canadian government has been led by Justin Trudeau’s centrist Liberal Party since 2015. In 2019, it implemented a national tax on carbon emissions and is now trying to implement a cap on emissions from the country’s large oil and gas production industry. The carbon price started out at C20 (US$16) a tonne and, under the current government’s plans, will ramp up steadily to C$170 ($134) in 2030.
Despite these measures, emissions have yet to consistently decline in Canada as they have in Europe and the US. This is partly because Canada still produces a lot of oil, a sector mostly under the control of provincial governments, and the production of this fossil fuel creates a lot of emissions. In addition, Canada’s transport emissions have continued to rise, as Canadians opt for bigger, more polluting cars like Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs).
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In a statement on the new target, the government claimed it had “successfully bent the emissions curve” through efforts like energy efficiency improvements, decarbonising electricity and the carbon tax. When it came to power in 2015, emissions were on course to increase 9% by 2030, it said, but instead they have fallen slightly already. There were over 314,000 jobs in the environmental and clean technology products sector in 2021, up 6.5% from 2020, it added.
Right-wing backlash
Canada’s carbon tax has been highly contentious and opposed by oil-reliant provinces like Alberta, as well as by the right-wing opposition Conservative Party. With federal elections scheduled for October next year, the Conservatives are leading in the polls and are campaigning by putting the slogan “axe the tax” on billboards and T-shirts.
Reacting to the new 2035 emissions target, Caroline Brouillette, executive director of Climate Action Network Canada, said Trudeau had “chosen to cave” to “belligerent climate deniers”.
She pointed to “oil and gas backed-disinformation campaigns and efforts to roll back progress”. “It has been alarming to see, with some rare exceptions, our politicians engage in a race to the bottom – at a moment when we most need leadership to confront the billionaires profiting from burning our world down,” she added.
(Reporting by Joe Lo; editing by Megan Rowling)
The post Canada ignores official advice in setting much-criticised 2035 emissions target appeared first on Climate Home News.
Canada ignores official advice in setting much-criticised 2035 emissions target
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Prepared by a coalition of nine Western Australian union, industry, conservation, and community organisations—including UnionsWA, the Conservation Council WA, and the Smart Energy Council—the WA Clean Energy, Jobs & Industry Plan provides a practical roadmap to transform Western Australia into a clean energy powerhouse while creating thousands of secure local jobs.
Western Australia stands at a pivotal crossroads: lead the global clean energy economy or watch investment, future industries, and secure jobs go elsewhere. The WA Clean Energy, Jobs & Industry Plan outlines a transformative blueprint to harness the state’s world-class solar and wind resources. Discover how legislated renewable targets, green iron manufacturing, and a dedicated regional training strategy can generate tens of thousands of local jobs, lower household bills, and build a resilient, net-zero future for all Western Australians.
WA needs a clear and forward-thinking plan if it is going to become a competitive renewable energy powerhouse and maintain its economic strength through the energy transition.
“Western Australians know a faster renewable energy transition will lower their household expenses and prevent harmful climate pollution. But the community also needs clear direction to ensure this transition will create jobs, lower costs and not cause undue environmental harm.
“Here, sectors representing a broad range of interests have laid the groundwork for those outcomes, clearly outlining what is needed to create a future for WA that is good for the environment, for the climate, for workers and for the economy.
Summary
The WA Clean Energy, Jobs & Industry Plan sets out a strategic roadmap to position Western Australia as a global clean energy superpower while creating thousands of secure local jobs.
The report establishes three overarching goals:
- Creating local employment.
- Maintaining industrial competitiveness.
- Lowering household energy costs
To realize this vision, the framework details actionable measures to follow on from the recent WA Government announcement of a 75% Renewable Energy Target by 2031 for the South West Interconnected System. This includes developing a statewide Renewable Energy Target, coordinating statewide workforce and training pipelines, strategically planning regional infrastructure to safeguard high-value biodiversity and cultural heritage, and ensuring equitable benefit-sharing through household electrification incentives and First Nations equity partnerships. Ultimately, the plan highlights that establishing clear policy and regulatory certainty will unlock lower energy bills, boost power reliability, and secure the state’s global competitiveness in emerging green commodity export markets.
Key Findings
- Statewide Renewable Energy Target and Emissions Reduction Targets: The report calls for a statewide RET and 1.5°C aligned emission reduction targets to remove policy risk, lower capital costs, and attract clean energy investment.
- Transformative Job Creation: Accelerating the transition offers massive employment prospects, including up to 8,800 solar and battery jobs by 2050, as well as 24,000 ongoing and 11,000 construction jobs in a commercial green iron industry.
- Industrial Electrification & Competitiveness: Requiring large gas users to adopt binding electrification timetables and providing concessional financing will protect existing energy-intensive manufacturers from rising energy costs and impending domestic gas shortfalls.
- Green Commodity Export Leadership: Western Australia can build new export markets in green iron, green ammonia, and offshore oil/gas decommissioning by constructing shared common-user infrastructure and setting dedicated Green Commodity Export Targets.
- Coordinated Workforce & Training Pipeline: To address critical skill shortages the plan recommends establishing a WA Clean Energy Jobs Plan 2050, three regional training hubs, and dedicated pathways for female and under-represented apprentices.
- Environmental Safeguards & Community Benefits: Fast-tracked development must be paired with State Planning Policies that avoid high-biodiversity and cultural heritage lands, mandate new data centres to run on additional renewable power, and deliver household electrification rebates and First Nations equity partnerships.
What you can do
WA has an opportunity to lead on sustainable, clean energy and associated industries. You can help by:
- Sending an email to Environment Minister Murray Watt and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, calling on them to reject Browse.
- Sharing this story to help more Australians understand what’s at stake.
- Encouraging your friends and family to take action.
Countries have completed the first “global review” of their progress towards reversing nature loss by 2030 at the COP17 biodiversity talks in Yerevan, Armenia.
The review “notes with deep concern” that, unless action is “rapidly accelerated”, the goal to reverse nature loss and meet a set of 23 targets by 2030 “will not be achieved”.
It “urges” countries to accelerate action, including by “increased ambition in addressing the gaps”.
Much of the discussions in Yerevan focused on how to raise the necessary funds to help developing countries protect nature.
Some major economies pushed to expand the range of nations that are expected to provide finance, with countries agreeing at the end of the two weeks of talks that non-donors that want to contribute can “signal interest” before COP18.
This came after developed countries failed to meet a target to significantly ramp up nature finance over the last few years.
It also came as a landmark fund agreed at COP16 in Colombia to pay communities for the genetic resources derived from nature stands nearly empty two years on.
The Yerevan talks marked the halfway point of the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” (GBF), the “Paris Agreement for nature” first made in 2022 and due to be achieved by 2030.
During the nearly 12-hour-long final plenary, countries voted for Quito, Ecuador, to host the COP18 nature talks, which will be held in 2028.
Countries managed to sign off on all the major negotiation texts, marking a stark contrast to COP16, which ran so far over time that the Colombian presidency lost “quorum”, forcing talks to resume in Rome months later.
Below, Carbon Brief has detailed analysis of all of the key outcomes from COP17.
Formal negotiations
Finance
Finance, predictably, was at the heart of the discord and deadlock at the Yerevan talks.
At COP17, discussions on finance had to achieve several outcomes.
The first part – to take stock of biodiversity finance mobilised so far to meet the nature deal’s goals – fell under the global review.
As the global report noted, developed countries failed to meet their commitments to raise “at least $20bn a year by 2025” for nature. Delegates pointed to falling aid levels and a sharp 27% decline in environmental funding for the 2026-30 period.
The second part was to agree on how to mobilise resources for the next four years, to meet the GBF’s goals and targets.
Calls to “broaden the contributor base” of who pays to protect nature – and whether that should include emerging economies – became the most fraught element of the talks.
Eventually, countries agreed on what Switzerland described as a “super, mega-delicate” text. It hinged on major “political compromises”, with “no major winner or loser”, according to Kenya.
Per the decision, countries that want to be included on a list of developed country donors can “signal interest” through bilateral, confidential consultations before COP18 and every alternate COP after.
Finally, countries also agreed on criteria to shape and resource a new, permanent financial mechanism to protect nature after 2030.
However, this did not immediately take the form of a new fund under the COP that biodiverse countries have demanded since 2022, deferring the mechanism’s institutional structure to COP18.
Resource mobilisation discussions at the GBF’s halfway mark were supposed to agree on how to close the “biodiversity finance gap” and to “increase resources from all sources” to “at least” $200bn per year by 2030, as set out in target 19 of the GBF.
The talks were largely dominated by a push, led by the JUSCANZ bloc of developed countries, to “broaden the contributor base”. This could see emerging economies, such as Qatar, China, Saudi Arabia and India, being added to the list of countries that pay to protect nature.
Article 20 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) states that developed countries “shall provide new and additional financial resources” to developing countries to meet the costs of implementing measures to protect nature.