Canada a reliable partner in fighting climate change: British envoy

Canada pledged this year to reach net zero by 2050, and has also raised its emissions-reduction targets from 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, to 40 to 45 per cent.

Britain’s new envoy to Ottawa says Canada still has credibility as a reliable partner on fighting climate change despite a domestic rise of greenhouse gas emissions in recent years.

Susannah Goshko, the newly arrived British high commissioner to Canada, says the current Trudeau government has shown “huge leadership” on the international stage in the fight against climate change.

That’s because Canada has doubled its financial commitments to climate financing and raised its emissions-reductions targets, which is putting pressure on other countries, Goshko said.

Goshko offered the assessment in a wide-ranging interview as the United Kingdom prepares to host what are seen as pivotal United Nations climate talks in Scotland next month, known as COP26.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced criticism from his political opponents and from environmental groups during the recent federal election because Canada’s carbon emissions actually rose from 2015 to 2019, the most recent years for which data is available.

While new Liberal policies might have driven down emissions in the two years since then, the current data has fuelled the narrative that Canada’s reputation on fighting climate change has been diminished since Trudeau’s 2015 participation in the Paris climate agreement in the weeks after he won power.

Not so, in Britain’s view, said Goshko.

“I think that there’s no question it’s hard to do what needs to be done to reach our climate goals. A transition to a net-zero economy is really, really tricky. And I think the important thing, as far as Canada is concerned, is the commitment is there,” said Goshko.