Climate change century’s ‘worst threat’
Current emission targets don’t go far enough, Dion says at APEC summit
Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion says climate change is the “worst threat we are facing this century,” and warned that current emissionsreduction targets from major emitters don’t go far enough.
It’s a marked departure from the stance of the previous Conservative government, which had alternated between whether the Islamic State or Russia were the greatest threats to Canada and the world.
The question of how to deal with climate change took centre stage at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit here on Wednesday, which has brought together leaders from 21 countries on both sides of the Pacific. The Syrian refugee crisis and Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal were also discussed.
U.S. President Barack Obama started the climate-change discussion in a special event where he noted the Asia-Pacific region is particularly vulnerable to flooding and land loss associated with climate change. He went on to link climate change with economic disruptions, and called for business to take a more active role.
At one point, a fellow participant compared the current situation to having stage two cancer. Obama picked up on the analogy, saying: “You don’t want to get to stage four. And we all … want to make sure our grandchildren live long and that’s dependent on whether the planet will live on.”
Dion, who met with reporters alongside International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland on the sidelines of the APEC summit Wednesday, called climate change “the worst threat we are facing this century.”
He said current commitments by major emitters to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions are insufficient.
Scientists have called on world leaders to ensure the average global temperature does not rise by more than two degrees Celsius, citing catastrophic consequences if it does. But Dion cited United Nations assessments that the temperature will rise 2.7 degrees under current emission-reduction targets.
“If we have no agreement, we may go to three or four,” he conceded. “But 2.7 (degrees) is not what the scientists are asking us to do. And it’s fair to say we need to do much more.”
Dion said that is why Canada is supporting France’s call for a review of emissions-reduction targets every five years, which will be debated at next month’s UN climate change talks in Paris.
He also confirmed that senior U.S. and Canadian officials have been meeting behind the scenes to align their efforts heading into Paris. Obama’s senior climate adviser, Brian Deese, was in Ottawa a few weeks ago, and Dion confirmed that Trudeau’s principal secretary, Gerald Butts, was recently in Washington.
Dion’s comments came as Trudeau was poised for his first official meeting with Obama as prime minister. The two have chatted several times, but Thursday’s sit-down was to be their first formal one-on-one event, and climate change was expected to figure prominently in the discussion. Trudeau was not available for questions from the media on Wednesday.
Trudeau has made working with the U.S. and Mexico on climate change a priority for his government, which he says is essential to Canadian prosperity and competitiveness, as well as changing global opinion on Canadian energy exports. Obama recently rejected the Keystone XL pipeline.
The two leaders will also talk about the state of the global economy, the Syrian refugee crisis and the war against the Islamic State. Trudeau has committed to withdrawing Canadian military aircraft from Iraq and Syria before March, but also plans to expand the size of Canada’s military training mission in northern Iraq.
Trudeau, Dion and International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland are representing Canada at the APEC summit, which ends Thursday. Earlier Wednesday, Trudeau and Freeland met with counterparts from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the 12-country bloc that has nearly completed a free-trade deal.
Freeland said fellow TPP partners understood the Liberal government’s promise to consult with Canadians and debate the agreement in Parliament.
“We met with very good reaction and understanding from our TPP partners and I’m happy to say that consulting process is very intense and we did some consulting today here in Manila,” she said.
But Freeland also said the government will be reviewing billions of dollars in compensation that the Conservative government promised to dairy farmers and auto makers to offset potential losses from Canada signing onto the deal.
Trudeau also sat down for his first face-to-face meetings with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and Filipino President Benigno Aquino.
On the issue of Syrian refugees, Freeland said the four million Syrians who have fled their country are “victims of terrorism” and that Canada was “behaving in a humanitarian fashion” by promising to accept 25,000 by the end of the year.
“We feel strong national support (for the plan,” she added. “I think both (Dion) and I, as members of Parliament and cabinet ministers, are hearing a lot of support from people back home for our refugee commitment and here from our international partners.”