Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault said Wednesday he wants China and Saudi Arabia to contribute money to international efforts to help poor countries suffering the worst effects of climate change.
Guilbeault is heading to the annual United Nations climate summit, COP29, in Azerbaijan next week. There countries are expected to negotiate new international targets to raise trillions of dollars that experts say are needed to mitigate the worst effects of global warming.
Guilbeault told CBC News that encouraging the world’s second-largest economy to contribute to the fund and setting new goals for the International Climate Finance Fund will be among his priorities upon his arrival in Baku.
“In fact, China will become one of the biggest polluters in history over the next few years,” Guilbeault said.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Stephen Guilbeault said Canada cannot tackle climate change “without making sure other countries are doing the same.” Guilbeault said countries like Saudi Arabia “should be part of a broader donor base to support southern countries.”
Guilbeault was criticized about a year ago for traveling to China to attend a diplomatic meeting with the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), an international group that advises the Chinese government on climate change. Critics called on him to cancel the trip, citing China’s alleged human rights abuses and interference in Canadian politics.
China is a country of contradictions when it comes to climate change. Although it is the world’s largest emitter, it is a world leader in the introduction of clean technologies (solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles) both domestically and internationally.
Guilbeault’s sights heading into the COP summit include the world’s top oil and gas producers.
“Countries like Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have a lot of money and are contributing significantly to climate change,” the minister said. “They should become part of a broader donor base to support southern countries.”
According to the report, Saudi Arabia is the world’s 11th largest emitter, ahead of Canada. One estimate. It is one of 20 countries that together account for more than 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions. According to the United Nations.
Wealthy Western countries, including Canada, backed a previous commitment to raise $100 billion annually in climate finance at the 2009 COP15 conference. The European Union and the 23 COP15 countries have committed to fulfilling their financial commitments by 2020.
Although rich countries missed that goal for years, preliminary data shows they have finally reached and exceeded it. However, the delay caused some countries to lose faith in international climate negotiations.
“This trust is slowly but surely being eroded,” said Caroline Brouillette, executive director of Climate Action Network Canada. “That is why the countries of the Global South are counting on Canada and the G7 to come to Baku ready to show us their finances.”
In a conference with reporters Wednesday, Guilbeault ministry officials did not say what the new international climate finance target should be or how much Canada or other countries should contribute.
By 2030, investments to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and related development goals will require $2.4 trillion in climate finance, according to one estimate.
Guilbeault said he disagrees with those who argue that only governments should pay that tax, and that institutions such as the World Bank and some large corporations should also pay it forward.
“There is a limited amount of public funding available around the world, and there is much more available in the private sector,” he said.
In 2021, Canada increased its international climate finance target from $2.65 billion to $5.3 billion over five years. The funding will target efforts to phase out coal and a funding system to warn communities ahead of catastrophic weather events.
The COP Climate Summit is a United Nations conference hosted annually by different countries. These are global decision-making forums that aim to: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changeadopted in the early 1990s and subsequent climate agreements.
At one of the conferences in 2015, countries signed the landmark Paris Agreement. The agreement stipulates that countries must strive to limit the rise in global temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius, and to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Although countries have made some progress, the world remains on track to exceed the limits set by the Paris Agreement and lead to more devastating floods, heatwaves and forest fires, the United Nations said.
