Minister Guilbeault leads the Canadian delegation to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) to push for global climate action

GATINEAU, QC, Nov. 2, 2022 /CNW/ - The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, is leading the Canadian delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP27, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, from November 6–18, 2022, where 190 other countries will gather to engage in important negotiations and dialogues around fighting climate change and adapting to its impacts.  

Ongoing global geopolitical challenges have only strengthened Canada's resolve to fight climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution while growing a clean economy that builds a more resilient, affordable future for all. The world must accelerate global efforts in this critical decade to keep the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5ºC within reach and avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.

Ahead of COP26 in Glasgow, UK, last year, Canada committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by forty to forty-five percent below 2005 levels by 2030 in order to meet the Paris Agreement. Canada is now focused on implementation, having launched the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan in March 2022, the most comprehensive sector-by-sector road map to achieve our target. As the transition to cleaner economies accelerates worldwide, Canada stands to gain from seizing opportunities in this competitive global race.

Over the course of COP27, Canada will support ambitious outcomes within the negotiations, including on issues related to climate finance and adaptation. Canada will also advance concrete actions that raise global ambition, including building international support for the phasing-out of coal-fired electricity, reducing methane emissions, increasing climate finance commitments from developed nations, cutting plastic waste, and protecting nature.

For the first time in recent history, Canada will also have a national Pavilion to highlight both domestic and international leadership in the fight against climate change and promote Canadian innovations, from low-carbon businesses and clean technologies, to sustainable finance and nature-based solutions. The Pavilion will provide a critical venue to convene key partners and stakeholders on important discussions, including on carbon pricing and on Indigenous climate leadership in Canada.

Canada's delegation, led by Minister Guilbeault, includes Catherine Stewart, Ambassador for Climate Change, and Steven Kuhn, Canada's Chief Negotiator for Climate Change. Canada has taken steps to ensure diverse perspectives are reflected through its inclusive delegation, which will be comprised of parliamentarians representing both the House of Commons and the Senate; Indigenous representatives; representatives from civil society organizations and youth, business, and labour, as well as most provinces and territories.

Shortly after COP27, Canada will welcome the world to Montréal from December 7–19, 2022, for the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, COP15, where it will continue to advocate for international collaboration on an ambitious post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Protecting nature and halting biodiversity loss in Canada and around the world are top priorities for Canada.

Quotes

"Canada has come a long way on climate action both at home and abroad, alongside international partners, since the coming into force of the Paris Agreement. But the reality is that we need to see a fundamental increase in global efforts. In Egypt, we will continue to push for the acceleration of concrete climate actions to reduce emissions and enhance resilience in communities and economies as the world faces the brunt of climate change impacts. Real, positive, and transformational change is possible. We won't back down."
– The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change

Quick facts

• COP27 is the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an annual conference that coordinates international efforts to address climate change and reviews the UNFCCC's progress and implementation.
• Since COP26 in 2021, Canada has made significant advances in domestic climate action:
• It released a Methane Strategy, which charts the course to reduce domestic methane emissions across the economy by more than thirty-five percent by 2030, compared to 2020 levels. This will exceed the Global Methane Pledge target of thirty percent that Canada agreed to last year.
• It announced the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan, which is Canada's plan to achieve its more ambitious Paris Agreement target of forty to forty-five percent lower emissions by 2030. This includes capping and cutting emissions from the oil and gas sector to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, and reducing oil and gas methane emissions by at least seventy-five percent by 2030.
• It finalized the Clean Fuel Regulations that will accelerate the use of clean technologies and fuels, and support sustainable jobs in a diversified economy.
• In 2021, Canada and Germany published a plan to deliver on the developed countries' goal to mobilize US$100 billion per year to help developing countries cut emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change. On October 28, 2022, Canada and Germany released a Progress Report on this plan, that focused on actions developed countries have taken since COP26, and additional areas where further efforts could strengthen the impact of climate finance on the ground.
• The Climate Finance Delivery Plan Progress Report focuses on tangible efforts of developed countries and other contributors in advancing the ten collective actions introduced in the 2021 Delivery Plan, with particular focus on four key action areas: increasing finance for adaptation, addressing barriers in accessing climate finance, working with Multilateral Development Banks to increase and improve climate finance, and improving the effectiveness of mobilizing private finance.
• As part of its $5.3 billion climate finance commitment, Canada is helping developing countries, which are often the hardest hit and face some of the greatest capacity challenges, to deal with increasingly severe climate change impacts like floods, drought, and storm surges from extreme weather like super typhoons and hurricanes. 
• More information about the Canada Pavilion can be found online.

Associated links

• Canada at COP27
  
  
• Canada Pavilion at COP27
  
  
• Canada's International Climate Finance
  
  
• Climate Finance Delivery Plan Progress Report
  
  
• Faster and Further: Canada's Methane Strategy
  
  
• 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan: Clean Air, Strong Economy
  
  
• Canada's National Adaptation Strategy
  
  
• UN Conference on Biodiversity: COP15 in Montréal

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SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada

Kaitlin Power, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, 819-230-1557, [email protected]; Media Relations, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 819-938-3338 or 1-844-836-7799 (toll-free), [email protected]