The Office of the Canadian Commissioner for the Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD), a federal government auditing body, has delivered a slap in the face to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, stating that the policies to combat global warming do not live up to their stated ambitions.
Before the release of a report published on November 7, Commissioner Jerry DeMarco said that "the federal government is not on track to meet the 2030 target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% below the 2005 level by 2030." Without rapid and significant efforts, Ottawa, in his view, will have to settle at best for a 34% reduction. Adopted by the government in 2022, the plan was aiming for zero net emissions by 2050.
The report points in particular to the delay in taking measures to cap emissions from the oil and gas industries. This sector – Canada the world's 4th largest producer of fossil fuels – is also the country's biggest polluter. Alone, it accounted for 28% of national greenhouse gas emissions in 2021. However, despite repeated commitments from the government over the past two years to reduce the sector's carbon dioxide emissions by "42% by 2025" and its methane emissions by 75%, there is "no information on basic design details yet," for this regulation, said DeMarco. Nor has any projection been made as to the impact of this double commitment on total GHG emissions reduction.
While the commission notes that "some progress has been made," it points out that the lack of a timeline and sometimes even targets for the measures put in place, the government's over-optimistic modeling of the expected effects of these measures, and "the fragmented responsibility" for policies among "multiple federal organizations," are all detrimental to Canada's overall effectiveness in the fight against global warming.
Responsibility for the delay in this race against time does not lie solely with the current prime minister. Despite efforts undertaken by various governments since 1990, "Canada's greenhouse gas emissions were higher in 2021 than they were in 1990," stated the report. With a decrease of only 8% in emissions between 2005 and 2021, Canada now ranks absolute last among G7 countries.
But the warning issued by the Commissioner for Sustainable Development is nonetheless particularly harsh for Trudeau. Having come to power in October 2015, he was one of the most ardent defenders of the Paris agreements finalized a few weeks later, and since then the fight against global warming has always been one of his priorities. But this isn't the first time the prime minister has been criticized for the gap between his ambitions and his actions.
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