OTTAWA, December 3, 2007
-Canada 's Environment Minister, John Baird,
today announced the appointment of an advisory
panel of eminent Canadians to provide advice
and assistance at the upcoming United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
conference in Indonesia.
"The team of eminent Canadians announced
today will be a tremendous asset to the Government
of Canada as we map out our path forward at
home and abroad," said Minister Baird.
"Greenhouse gases and air pollution know
no borders and affect everyone on the planet.
That's why our Government is committed to
tackling climate change and working with the
international community to develop a post-2012
agreement that involves all major emitters
adopting ambitious targets."
The panel of advisors is led by the former
Premier of Quebec, the Hon. Pierre-Marc Johnson.
Mr. Johnson is recognized for his expertise
in international trade, negotiations and international
partnerships as well as environmental and
health law. He will be joined by the following
eminent Canadians:
• Elizabeth Dowdeswell, former head of the
United Nations Environment Program (UNEP);
• Ian Morton, founder of the Clean Air Foundation
and Chief Executive Officer of Summerhill
Group;
• Mary Simon, president of Inuit Tapiriit
Kanatami (ITK).
"We look forward to accompanying Minister
Baird in Indonesia where we can engage in
discussions with our international partners
and provide meaningful advice to the Minister,"
said Mr. Johnson. "These exchanges will
help Canada move closer to a long term and
flexible agreement and we are also confident
they can contribute to addressing the issue
of climate change in a straightforward and
responsible way."
These advisors will attend many of the conference
sessions and advise the Minister on a wide
range of issues, including the most appropriate
framework for negotiating a post-2012 agreement;
the implementation and promotion of green
technology and how Canada can contribute;
the role of developed and developing nations
in any post-2012 agreement; the impact of
climate change on the north; and the role
of adaptation in responding to climate change.
Eric Richer
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of the Environment
+ More
Speech by the Honourable John Baird, Minister
of the Environment At the Economic Club of
Toronto
Toronto, Ontario
December 5, 2007
Thank you. Well, thank you very much for that
kind introduction. I'm excited to be here
at the Economic Club. I think it was about
a year and a half since I last spoke or last
attended an Economic Club luncheon so I'm
pleased to be here again.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Ban Ki-Moon, has called global warming "the
defining challenge of our age." And I
think that sums it up quite well. This past
year we've had four huge reports come forward
from the United Nations who build on the huge
amount of scientific work which has taken
place for so many years around the world.
The reports have made it very clear that
it's undeniable that the planet is warming
and that human activity is contributing to
that reality. It also said that climate change
is real and it can be seen on every continent
and in every ocean on every part of the planet.
Here in Canada, we can see the effects of
climate change. Winters don't come as they
used to; they're much warmer -- maybe not
today. But in British Columbia the winters
don't come as they used to and we've lost
huge swaths of forest from the pine beetle
which has devastated not just the environment
but industry and jobs. Up in the Arctic in
a place called Inuvik we've had a school which
has actually come off its foundation because
the permafrost is melting.
Decades now, decades of science has told
us it's time for people around this planet
and for governments around the world to act.
Greenhouse gases have gone up. They continue
to go up, way up, each and every year and
it's our challenge, the challenge of our generation
to get them to go down.
I met with two lead scientists from the United
Nations, Canadians -- they're now Nobel laureates
-- this past February. And after the first
UN report came out, I sat down with them and
was briefed and talked to them about them.
And I turned to the more learned one and said,
"This is a report," the first one
was a report to policy makers written in plain
English for folks like myself. And I said
to them, "What would you do if you were
me?"
And he paused for a moment and then a second
moment and then said, "I'd do two things.
One, cultural change. We've got to change
the way we live. And, two, technology."
And really, that's pretty much the entire
solution right there. Cultural change, the
dozens and dozens of decisions we make each
and every day on how we live our lives and
technology to enable those decisions to be
easier personally, commercially, industrially
and in the public sector. And I couldn't agree
more with this scientist.
The Kyoto Protocol was signed 10 years ago
this December. And what it really represented
was a 10-year marathon to reduce greenhouse
gases around the world. But when the starting
pistol of that marathon went off, Canada began
to run in the opposite direction under the
previous government. Today, some 25, 30 days
before the reporting period kicks in on January
1st, 2008, we are 32.9 percent above our Kyoto
target.
To put that in context, there was a recent
election in Australia and the new Labour government,
the new Labour Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has
committed and now signed the Kyoto Protocol.
Australia's only one percent above its target.
That puts the challenge that we have in this
country into perspective.
I can't and our government can't take responsibility
for the last 10 years but Canadians are demanding
that our prime minister, that this minister
and our government take responsibility for
the next 10 years and we do so.
We have a plan and a national goal of cutting
greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by
2020 for our country. That's an absolute reduction
of 20 percent in 13 years. It's not going
to be easy; it's going to be difficult. But
we are committed to this national goal, to
this target.
For the first time ever, our government will
be regulating the big polluters to require
them to reduce in absolute terms their greenhouse
gases. That's 18 percent by 2010 and then
a constant improvement each and every year
of two percent. We think an intensity-based
approach that breaks the back of growing emissions,
that can see emissions stabilized as early
as 2010 or as late as 2012. We'll have a huge
number of compliance mechanisms to enable
business to meet these tough goals.
The centrepiece is a Technology Fund going
back to the advice we received from this Nobel
laureate. We want to establish a carbon market
in this country, an offset system. And we
want to use the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development
Mechanisms where companies can buy credits
from high level, blue chip opportunities that
are regulated by the United Nations.
This is the centerpiece but it's by no means
all. We're taking real initiatives in transportation.
We'll soon be coming forward with a discussion
paper to talk about new mandatory, not voluntary,
standards for automobiles. We'd like to see
a Clean Auto Pact between Canada and the United
States. We have an integrated market between
our two countries and we don't want to see
jobs move from Canada to the United States
and if we move together with the United States
we can go farther faster and have a twin impact
on reducing smog and pollution in our country.
We're working also with the rail sector,
the marine and air sector to reduce greenhouse
gases there too. We're working hard in the
energy sector on energy efficiency, on conservation,
on renewable power, on biofuels and ethanol.
We have some world leading technology in this
country.
There's a company in Ottawa, Iogen Corporation,
which produces ethanol, synthetic ethanol,
cellulosic ethanol and that does it in the
most environmentally friendly way and the
recent budget was able to provide almost $200
million to make this fully commercially available
in this country.
We're working hard with the provinces. For
the first time ever the federal government
is actively engaged working with the provinces
providing funding to support initiatives to
fight global warming and greenhouse gases.
Some of the innovative and exciting projects
are a Hydrogen Highway in British Columbia
to connect with the Hydrogen Highway that
one of your earlier speakers, Governor Schwarzenegger,
has championed in California. And this would
in time for the 2010 Olympics.
Working on carbon capture and storage in
Alberta. I visited western Canada the other
day and we've actually got commercially deployable
technology that's working today, taking pure
carbon and sequestering it deep inside the
earth and also helping enhanced oil recovery.
So it's a win-win for business and the environment.
We're working hard on tidal power in the
Maritimes and that's good news. And here in
Ontario we've provided $585 million to help
Ontario close its dirty coal-fired electricity
plants or to convert them into cleaner burning
fuels. This will help also with the national
electricity grid between Ontario and Manitoba
to harness the untapped potential of hydro
power in northern Manitoba. This is the first
time ever the provinces have received financial
support and that's good news.
Earlier this week, the world began to meet
in Indonesia and ministers from around the
world will join those discussions next week
to launch negotiations on the post-2012 protocol.
We want to be clear that we support, Canada
supports mandatory binding targets for all
the big polluters around the world. But in
Canada we're still blessed and being a leader,
leadership means going first. That's why the
Government of Canada has committed a 20 percent
reduction by 2020 before these talks have
even begun.
If I could ask for the first chart, this
gives us the chart of business as usual in
the world. This is if no action is taken from
2004, greenhouse gases will skyrocket. You
can see the small line there representing
Canada's contribution to greenhouse gases.
We're a small part but we've got to do our
part to beat this challenge. But we can't
do it alone. We need to get all major emitters
onboard committed to stabilizing and reducing
greenhouse gases as well.
If Canada, the United States, Australia and
every Kyoto country with binding targets were
to eliminate all of their greenhouse gases
by the year 2050, a hundred percent reduction
in manmade greenhouse gases, this is what
the chart would look like. Greenhouse gases
almost doubling is not a policy that the Government
of Canada or that the people of Canada can
support. That's why we feel so strongly that
all major emitters must be aboard -- countries
like the United States, our major trading
partner and the growing economies and big
emitters, China and India. We will not tackle
this problem of global warming and climate
change unless we get everyone aboard, everyone
with an oar in the water and everyone rowing
together.
That's why it's essential we work at this
conference to bring other countries aboard.
But let me be clear: Canada can afford to
do more and can afford to do more faster than
developing countries. So it doesn't have to
be a one-size-fits-all solution but everyone's
got to be going in the same direction down
the right road.
I want to give two examples of what could
happen if we don't get these big emitters
aboard. I see a bunch of representatives from
the Power Workers and Ontario Power Generation
here. We could close down our coal-fired generating
station in Lambton, Ontario with about 2,000
megawatts of power and simply import dirty,
coal-fired generation from Michigan. In doing
so, we will have only accomplished one thing:
a huge and substantial increase in the price
of electricity for our manufacturing sector
in Ontario. The greenhouse gases will be the
same. The smog and pollution will be the same
because it will come from another country.
We could close down one of the big steel
companies in this province and simply buy
the steel from China with just as much greenhouse
gas emissions, if not more, being emitted.
And we won't have solved the problem. We won't
have addressed the problem. It will continue
to get just -- continue to go in the wrong
direction. That's why it's essential that
we get all countries aboard.
I mentioned earlier that Australia recently
ratified -- just this week in fact -- the
Kyoto Protocol and they've got one percent
reduction. The new Prime Minister of Australia,
Kevin Rudd, has been very clear and very specific
that all major emitters have to come to the
table if Australia is to participate in the
next round post-2012. So we'll have an important
ally with this new prime minister.
Canadaand other developed countries can afford
to do more and we're committed to doing more.
Canadawill work at this conference towards
a successful conclusion in Indonesia. Our
country's broad position going into the conference
are clear and based on four -- three points.
I'll go to slide four.
The world must come together and agree to
launch negotiations on a post-2012 agreement
next week in Indonesia.
There must be an agreement on what the building
blocks are for a future agreement.
And there must be an agreement for an end
date to these negotiations. They cannot go
on forever and Canada will be pushing for
an end date of 2009 -- just two short years
from now.
Let me repeat these points in French.
Canada will do everything in its power for
the conclude of the conference in Indonesia.
Our country's position going into the meeting
is clear and based on three fundamental points.
The world must come together and agree to
launch negotiations on an agreement for the
post-2012 period.
There must be an agreement on what the building
blocks are for a future agreement.
And there must be general agreement on an
end date for the negotiations, and Canada
thinks that 2009 was the right year.
These goals are also shared by Yvo de Boer,
the Executive Director of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change. Canada
will also be represented in the talks in Indonesia
by a number of provincial ministers including
the Honourable John Gerretsen from here in
Ontario.
We were also this week pleased to announce
the appointment of four eminent Canadians
to accompany the Canadian delegation and provide
me and the other leaders with advice and counsel
on how we can move forward on a successful
protocol.
The Honourable Pierre-Marc Johnson, a former
Premier of Quebec, and an incredibly well-respected
environmentalist will help up this panel.
Elizabeth Dowdeswell, a Canadian and former
head of the United Nations Environmental Program
will be part of the team as will Ian Morton,
the founder of the Clean Air Foundation, someone
who has developed clear and specific and practical
solutions to fighting both greenhouse gases
and smog and pollution. And, finally, Mary
Simon, a key Aboriginal leader representing
the Inuit community.
We have a mandate to provide -- they have
a mandate to provide independent advice from
their different background and experience
in policy, law, business, First Nations and
Arctic issues. And that is good news.
Our goals in Indonesia are further espoused
by a number of key principles that were set
out by our prime minister. Any long-term post-2012
agreement must include the major emitting
countries like China, like India and the United
States. It must be fair and it must be economically
realistic without placing unfair burdens on
any one country. It must be long term and
it must be flexible and it must have a balanced
approach that preserves economic growth and
protects the environment. Set out clearly,
we need all major emitters onboard. And that
is absolutely essential in the fight against
global warming.
This will be the agenda that Canada takes
to these important conferences -- this important
conference. The planet cannot be let down.
We must succeed for the sake our children
and our children's children and Canada is
committed to playing a constructive and effective
role in these international negotiations.
Thank you very much. Merci beaucoup.
