As momentum grows worldwide to address climate change, prevent biodiversity loss, and tackle pollution, Canada is leading with international partners to raise our ambition and benefit from the opportunities to drive a strong, prosperous future.
Today, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, hosted the sixth Ministerial on Climate Action (MoCA6) in Stockholm, Sweden. The meeting is occurring at the key halfway point between COP26, held in Glasgow in late 2021, and COP27, to be held in Egypt in late 2022.
Canada emphasized three key priorities, which reflect major domestic policies. Those are:
- Encouraging countries to plan and deliver increased greenhouse gas reduction targets (called the Nationally Determined Contributions). Countries exchanged updates on the concrete actions they are taking at home to advance their ambition to cut emissions. Canada shared that, since Glasgow, the Government has published its 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan, a sector-by-sector roadmap to reduce emissions by 40 percent compared with 2005 levels and create good, sustainable jobs in Canada.
- Protecting biodiversity and nature will be paramount to reach our collective climate goals. Forests, oceans, and wetlands are the lungs of the world, acting as a carbon sink that also provides critical habitat for species. Canada continues to champion a global framework for biodiversity to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, with a goal of protecting 30 percent of the world's lands and oceans by 2030. Canada shared the major strides it has made since 2015 towards this goal in partnership with Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
- Helping developing countries contribute to climate solutions and adapt to the impacts of climate change by achieving the goal of $100 billion in climate finance by 2023. Developing countries can be the hardest hit, and often have limited capacity to address climate change impacts like severe weather, drought, and flooding. Canada shared that it has recently doubled its climate finance to $5.3 billion and is committed to allocate at least 20 percent (over $1 billion) to projects that leverage nature-based solutions or deliver the added benefit of protecting biodiversity in developing countries. Canada will also provide up to $1 billion to support developing countries in phasing out coal.
Since Canada founded MoCA with the European Union and China in 2017, MoCA continues to be an important forum for a representative group of parties to the Paris Agreement to participate in achieving collective global environmental ambitions.
By engaging major economies and developing countries on the path towards a net-zero economy, we can help ensure that the goods and services purchased by Canadians come from countries who are equally committed to lowering the global carbon footprint.
Immediately following MoCA6, the Minister will attend the United Nations' Stockholm+50 meeting, where he will showcase Canada's leadership on ambitious climate and environmental action, stress the need to maintain global momentum on environmental obligations, as well as enhance ambition globally and reiterate the importance of multilateral cooperation. The Minister will also participate in several leadership dialogues with the global environmental community.
