Minister Guilbeault reaffirms Canada’s commitment to global climate action and continues to push for a strong outcome at COP28

December 12, 2023 – Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The world has experienced its warmest year ever, with Canadians facing devastating and deadly wildfires. At COP28, all countries came together to address the triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution and push for ambitious outcomes. Canada advocated to secure ambitious outcomes to keep the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5 ºC within reach.

Over the past two weeks at COP28, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, alongside Catherine Stewart, Canada’s Ambassador for Climate Change, Michael Bonser, Canada’s Chief Climate Negotiator, and Jean-François Tremblay, Deputy Minister of Environment and Climate Change, with the support of a strong and diverse Canadian delegation, have worked to advance cooperation and positive solutions at all levels, with the objective of responding to the consequences of a changing global climate.

Negotiations are still underway around the clock with draft text not meeting expectations, but Canada is working closely with other countries toward an outcome that helps the world keep 1.5 ºC within reach. This is a matter of survival for many. This includes collective commitments to make progress on phasing out unabated fossil fuels, increasing renewable energy and energy efficiency, addressing deforestation, and reducing methane emissions, as well as ensuring high-ambition guidance for the future round of nationally determined contributions. Ambitious and inclusive progress is the only way to avoid the catastrophic impacts of a warmer world. In addition, Canada is collaborating with partners to ensure that COP28 results in new guidance for countries to make progress on adaptation. Finally, Canada looks forward to engaging with partners, as we develop a new collective finance goal at COP29 and make progress on ensuring investment flows are aligned with the Paris Agreement goals.

This meeting in Dubai was also host to the first ever Global Stocktake, where Parties were able to assess progress made in implementing the Paris Agreement for the first time, and learned how much climate ambition they need to implement to get in line with the 1.5 ºC goal. Minister Guilbeault, along with his counterpart Minister Fouad of Egypt, co-chaired discussions on the means of implementation—the resources, policies, and actions—necessary to achieve the goals set out in the Paris Agreement.

COP28 began with the historic agreement to operationalize a loss and damage fund that will provide vulnerable countries and communities with the resources they need to respond to the worst impacts of climate change. Over US$790 million has already been pledged, including Canada’s early contribution of $16 million.

The international community came together to scale up delivery and mobilization of climate finance. Since COP26, Canada and Germany have been working to ensure contributor countries meet the $100 billion goal. Canada welcomes the recent assessment from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development that the goal was likely met in 2022. During COP28, Canada announced over $67 million for projects touching on the five critical areas of loss and damage, adaptation, mitigation, climate governance, and halting and reversing biodiversity loss, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to partner with developing countries.

Addressing climate change must also include action to protect and conserve nature, halt biodiversity loss, and find nature-based solutions to ensure generations to come can thrive in our natural world. COP15 on Biological Diversity in Montréal in 2022 set the tone for an ambitious outcome at COP28, and Canada took the opportunity in Dubai to announce its commitment to introduce a federal nature accountability bill in 2024 and establish an accountability framework for the federal government in fulfilling its nature and biodiversity commitments under the Global Biodiversity Framework. In addition, at COP28, Minister Guilbeault announced the members of the Nature Champions Network, which focuses on fostering progress, international awareness, and an understanding of the Global Biodiversity Framework.

International advocacy must be supported by strong and decisive action at home. Canada announced two significant domestic plans while at COP28, demonstrating its commitment to put in place effective and affordable climate solutions for Canadians that will have far-reaching impacts. These efforts include publishing the proposed strengthened oil and gas methane regulations to cut emissions from this potent greenhouse gas. This puts Canada among the world’s first to set targets to reduce oil and gas methane emissions by at least 75 percent from 2012 levels by 2030. The Government of Canada also announced a draft framework to cap pollution from the oil and gas sector to reduce emissions, part of a suite of measures designed to help Canada’s important oil and gas sector remain competitive in a global economy that is rapidly moving to net zero and support the sector’s talented and skilled energy workers.