(Washington) Ukraine and the climate crisis shared attention Wednesday at the UN General Assembly, where Canada struggled to reconcile its reputation as an oil and gas supplier with the global effort aimed at countering global warming.
At the Climate Ambition Summit, aimed at holding 30 invited countries to account for their efforts so far, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered only a glimmer of optimism.
Canada is on track to meet, and perhaps even exceed, its goal of reducing methane emissions from oil-producing areas by 75% compared to 2012 levels by the end of the decade, he said. -he declared to the group.
The UN moderator had previously introduced the Prime Minister by clearly recalling that Canada “was one of the countries to have increased the most” its production of fossil fuels last year, a detail that Mr. Trudeau did not recognized only indirectly — and with a hint of domestic politics.
“In 2015, Canada — a major supplier of oil and gas — was far behind on climate action,” he acknowledged, without saying out loud that 2015 was the year the Liberals took the power.
“Through hard work, we managed to change that. In fact, Canada’s emissions are trending downward,” he noted.
The Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, also allowed himself a hint of partisan politics.
Canada was only invited to participate in the UN summit because of the efforts it has made so far to take its climate obligations seriously, Mr. Guilbeault emphasized.
“I think if you asked the question: ‘Would Canada have been invited here 10 years ago under the Stephen Harper government?’, the answer is obviously no,” he quipped.
“Pierre Poilievre does not believe — and the Conservative Party of Canada does not believe him — that climate change is an issue worth paying attention to,” continued the minister, for whom progress on methane is particularly important. remarkable.
“It is a very potent greenhouse gas, but if we can work collectively to reduce methane emissions, we can reduce temperature rise by almost 1 degree Celsius in the decades to come. It’s huge,” he noted, adding that his government is ensuring that the “energy transition takes place in a way that is fair and equitable for workers.”
Mr. Trudeau also said at the summit that Canada would allocate US700 million (about C$1.3 billion) to the Poverty Reduction Trust Fund, a fund intended to help developing countries cope with changes. climatic.
Mr. Trudeau “came in with more promises, but not much action,” said Greenpeace Canada climate spokesperson Salomé Salé, emphasizing the absence of any limits on fossil fuel production.
“The government must stop delaying action and making fossil fuel companies pay the cost of the catastrophic climate impacts they are responsible for,” she said.
A roadmap that is difficult to achieve
The Prime Minister will also participate in high-level meetings on creating new financial models to help developing countries find sustainable solutions to the climate crisis.
These goals, established in 2015 as the UN road map to a safe, equitable and peaceful world, include lofty ambitions such as ending poverty and hunger, ensuring clean water and ending some inequalities.
The theme of this year’s assembly is “Rebuilding Trust and Reviving Global Solidarity” – two elements that even António Guterres acknowledged on Tuesday are hard to come by these days.
Progress has largely stalled, hampered by political intransigence, sluggish post-pandemic economies and escalating conflicts in Ukraine and the developing world.
“Our world is becoming unbalanced,” declared the UN Secretary-General during his opening speech. Geopolitical tensions are increasing. Global challenges are multiplying. And we seem unable to come together to answer it. »
Mr. Trudeau gently urged leaders to take seriously achieving these goals.
“This is not a wish list generated by academics and the global wealthy. These are the building blocks of success in each of our countries and in each of our communities, he said. (But these goals) will become harder and more expensive (to achieve) the more we drag our feet. »
Ukraine and the climate crisis
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, one of Justin Trudeau’s close allies, implored leaders to give the climate crisis the same attention as the assembly’s other dominant theme: the war in Ukraine.
“I hope that in the same way that we can take Ukraine seriously in the Security Council, we can take the climate crisis seriously,” she said.
“This is just as big a threat – in fact, it’s a bigger threat because more lives are at stake around the world than in Ukraine,” she added.
That’s exactly what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who seems to attract attention wherever he goes, did just that during a speech at a high-profile meeting of the UN Security Council.
Dressed in his usual olive green fatigues, Mr. Zelensky called Russia’s invasion a “criminal and unprovoked aggression” and the country a “terrorist state” determined to destroy not only Ukraine, but also its guards. -multilateral frameworks set up after World War II to prevent globalization.
And he called on the U.N. to give General Assembly members the power to strip the Security Council’s permanent members of their veto, which Russia uses to block the body’s efforts to take action.
“We must all resist this affront to the UN,” Trudeau said in his speech to the Council later in the day.
“We must not let the world return to a place where might makes right. We need to make sure borders make sense, even when a neighbor has a larger military. »
He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “weaponizing” energy and food, depriving millions of people of resources, particularly in the Global South, a part of the world that depends on food exports from Europe central.
And he brought the conflict in Ukraine full circle, bringing back the UN’s efforts to implement the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, a mission the body launched in 2012.
“We don’t think we have to choose between supporting Ukraine and supporting the SDGs and global development,” Trudeau said.
“The only responsible choice is to do both, which we do with solidarity and financial commitment. »
Ukraine, global climate action and reviving the overdue SDG project had promised to be the dominant themes of Trudeau’s time in New York, and Wednesday’s agenda confirmed that.