The Paris Agreement was ratified globally in November. This is unprecedented amongst international agreements for how quickly it has come into force. The Agreement allows each country to decide how it will tackle climate change, and requires as of 2020, regular reporting on progress. Countries of the world have officially embarked in a global race to implement ambitious climate policies that contribute to reducing green-house gas emissions at the planetary-scale.

This process is not unlike the Olympics games where countries get together to compare their strengths and performance. If Canada wants to be a medalist in 2020, domestic climate policies must rapidly be adopted to accelerate the low carbon transition. In this context, Sustainable Canada Dialogues (SCD) – a network of 60+ scholars from across Canada – produced Rating Canada’s Climate Policy; a progress report on Canada’s climate actions over the past year. We analysed climate decisions made in Ottawa in 2016 in relationship to the 10 policy orientations that we proposed previously in our position paper entitled Acting on Climate Change: Solutions from Canadian Scholars.

Canada has recently taken two important steps forward. In September, the Government of Canada announced a $120 billion infrastructure investment plan that explicitly highlights support for infrastructures reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This investment plan raises hopes that Canada can make the transition to low carbon development, but its real impact depends on identifying and funding infrastructure projects that best contribute to desired low-carbon and sustainable outcomes. In October, the Government of Canada Announced a Pan-Canadian Pricing on Carbon Pollution starting in 2018. The price on carbon pollution should start at a minimum of $10 per tonne in 2018 and rise by $10 a year to reach $50 per tonne in 2022. This is a modest start given the Canadian government has stated a central value for the social cost of carbon (SCC) is about $41 Cdn/tonne; and could be as high as $167 Cdn.

Despite the progress discussed above, the Canadian Government decision to approve the Pacific Northwest liquefied natural gas (LNG) project is a step backward, casting doubt on the willingness of the Federal Government to address climate change with concrete and meaningful policies and actions. Our impact assessment indicates that this LNG project would be one of the largest point source of emissions in Canada and would increase BC’s emissions by 8.5%. Continued development of projects with high greenhouse gas emissions will compromise progress in other sectors. It will prevent Canada from meeting its emissions reduction target for 2030, and is incompatible with Canada’s stated goal to help limit global temperature increases to 1.5oC. Research indeed estimates that, to maintain global temperature increase below 2oC, half of existing gas reserves and one third of existing oil ones must remain unused.

Canadian climate policy must tackle the most difficult question: how to transition away from fossil fuels? We call for federal political leadership that steadily and strategically adopts innovative low-carbon tools to drive future economic growth. This requires engaging with a broad range of stakeholders from the oil and gas industry, unions, Indigenous peoples, environmental NGOs, the clean technology sector, and academia. We must discuss how to redirect subsidies of $3.3 billion away from the fossil fuel industry. Those funds should promote transitions to low-carbon energy and ensure that workers from the oil and gas industry can transition their skills in other sectors.

Ambitious Canadian climate leadership is necessary more than ever. Only by working together and building commitment across all sectors will Canada live up the expectations created by joining the COP21 High Ambition Coalition in 2015. Our federal government has not developed a complete climate action plan. But two further steps forward have occurred since the close of the COP22 Marrakech Meeting. On November 19, Canadian Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna announced details of support for Canadian and Global actions towards cleaner, more sustainable growth in Canada and internationally. As we pen this article, on November 21, Minister McKenna announced that Canada will phase out all coal fired electricity by 2030.

Sustainable Canada Dialogues applauds the Minister’s announcements. But SCD will continue to push for Canada to adopt actions on clean energy and climate policy that will decrease GHG emissions, increase certainty in Canadian and global business environments, and encourage companies to invest in low-carbon technologies. Canada, Canadians, can and will show international leadership on climate action.

Download Sustainable Canada Dialogues’ November 2016 Progress Report on National Government Leadership on climate actions. Our March 2015 Acting on Climate Change Report charted a path for eliminating coal fired electricity in Canada. SCDs’ Open Letter to Canadian Political and Indigenous leaders in March 2016 warned continued investment in oil extraction and transportation locks Canada into carbon intensive energy for decades.

Sustainable Canada Dialogues will continue to provide climate change policy leadership dialogue in Canada and beyond.

James Byrne is a Climate Scientist and Professor at the University of Lethbridge, Canada. He has published extensively on the impacts of climate change on water, ecosystems and society; served as an expert reviewer of many environmental impacts reports; and has led national and international environmental science and solutions communication programs. Catherine Potvin is Canada Research Chair on Climate Change Mitigation and Tropical Forests: Science for Empowerment. Her research includes biodiversity and ecosystem functioning; livelihoods, empowerment, and biodiversity; REDD+: carbon and co-benefits; and science to inform climate change policy.

Submitted on behalf of 60+ Sustainable Canada Dialogues Colleagues.