Climate issues hold their own at top of UN agenda: Guilbeault
UNITED NATIONS
Canada’s environment minister says the climate crisis has everyone’s attention at the United Nations, even as concern mounts about Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Steven Guilbeault is among the ministers accompanying Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for leader-level meetings at the UN General Assembly.
He says climate issues have become a top-tier concern for world leaders — and that the federal government is helping to drive that agenda.
Trudeau began the day at a high-level meeting on developing a sustainable ocean economy that included John Kerry, the former U.S. secretary of state who’s now President Joe Biden’s climate emissary.
And on Tuesday, he attended an event at the Central Park Zoo aimed at mobilizing efforts to halt biodiversity loss and protect 30 per cent of the world’s land and oceans by 2030.
Guilbeault says even in Europe, where the threats posed by Russia are everpresent, efforts to arrest climate change are in full swing.
“They want to produce 25 per cent of their electricity by rooftop solar panels by 2030. It’s unbelievable,” he said.
“They’re making more and more investment. And Canada said we will help Europe in as many ways as we can while maintaining our fight against climate change.”
He also noted that Biden, a top draw at day 2 of the leader-level debates in the assembly hall, recently signed off on the single largest climate-change investment in U.S. history.
“I don’t think climate change is being put on the back burner,” he said.
“We live in an era where, regardless of what other important things are happening on the international scene, environmental issues like climate change and biodiversity loss have become international priorities.”
In addition to Biden, the delegation is also hearing from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose livestreamed speech marks a rare exception to the General Assembly’s rules.
Zelenskyy’s seven-month defence of Ukraine against the aggressions of Russian President Vladimir Putin has been a dominant theme of the gathering.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says Canada is especially focused on ensuring the global coalition of countries united against Russia remains healthy and intact.
Joly says she expects to hear Zelenskyy reiterate his pleas for as much support as his allies can muster.
“Obviously, what Ukraine wants from Canada is always more support on the financial side and more heavy artillery,” she said.
“We’ve done a lot already. But we need to do more. And we’ll do more.”
Trudeau is expected to make news of his own, in particular when he announces Canada’s latest contribution to a UN effort to confront treatable disease in the developing world.
He is also taking part in a meeting with Caribbean partners to discuss the ongoing crisis in Haiti, where relentless waves of gang violence have persisted through the summer, killing hundreds of people.
Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the UN, said he recently visited the country to see the chaos for himself. The gangs have even taken over the courthouse in the capital city of Portau-Prince, he said.
“We’re not going to declare that we’ve got a magic solution. That’s not how it works,” Rae said.
“We need to learn from some of the mistakes in the past where interventions happened that didn’t have the full support of the Haitian people. And we need to make sure that we’re working with the people of Haiti.”
That’s easier said than done in a country that’s being run by a provisional government, he added.
“We’re going to try to play as constructive a role as we can. We all know that there’s going to be more required.”