(Ottawa) Canada urgently needs to make climate change more prominent in the conduct of its diplomacy abroad, as other G7 countries are already doing.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
This is the plea made by former Canadian ambassador for climate change Patricia Fuller, in a report to be published Tuesday by the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa.
Such a change of direction is necessary while Canada suffers from a certain lack of credibility abroad. Despite adopting more ambitious climate change policies, Canada has failed to significantly reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in recent years, unlike most other G7 countries, says the report, titled “Climate Change and Canada’s International Engagement”.
Mme Fuller, who is the lead author of the report and who has had a long career in Canadian diplomacy in addition to working on the Trudeau government’s carbon pricing policy, pleads for the Department of Foreign Affairs to put more focus on climate change issues in its policy development.
She also points out that Canada’s allies have climate envoys who report to Foreign Affairs. This is particularly the case in the United States, France and the United Kingdom. Germany has gone further by entrusting the leadership of international work on climate change to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In Canada, this emissary reports to the federal Ministry of the Environment. Worse still, the Climate and Energy Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs was cut following budget cuts imposed by the former Conservative government of Stephen Harper in the mid-2000s.
Another red light appears on the dashboard: market access is likely to be increasingly linked to climate policies. For example, the European Union is developing its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. This tax should apply to companies located in countries that have not reduced their GHGs.
“The priority given to climate change by our international partners will continue to grow, not only among our G7 partners who are implementing ambitious policies, but also among vulnerable countries in the South who are suffering the worst effects of climate change. Our influence and ability to advance our interests globally will be affected, negatively or positively, by the perception of our contribution to the task,” says Patricia Fuller in the report.
Sharing the burden of responding to climate change, both in terms of reducing emissions and supporting adaptation in developing countries, will be an increasingly important factor in international relations.
Patricia Fuller, in the report “Climate Change and Canada’s International Engagement”
Former federal mandarins such as Daniel Jean, Ruth Archibald, Kerry Buck, Masud Husain and John McNee contributed to the drafting of the report in which we give birth to some recommendations. Among other things, it is proposed to create a climate, environment and energy network in all diplomatic missions abroad, as the United Kingdom has done, to better explain the measures adopted by Canada to combat climate change and analyze country programs that could have an impact on Canada. It is also recommended that Canada’s diplomatic policies and activities be analyzed through the lens of climate change and energy.
The Press obtained a copy of this report which will be published when the 27e Annual UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) takes place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will not attend the conference. Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault leads the Canadian delegation.
PHOTO AHMAD GHARABLI, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivers a speech during COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
The climate crisis that is already being felt will have profound consequences for the world order, the report argues. Deadly heat waves, flash floods, prolonged droughts and rising sea levels will cause increasing casualties. These events will lead to the forced displacement of millions of people.
And for Canada to be able to respond to them in an effective and orderly manner, it is important to give the Department of Foreign Affairs the appropriate tools.
“Whether it’s climate-related humanitarian crises, population displacements, growing food insecurity or shifts in economic power linked to the energy transition, the importance of a Canadian strategic approach to these challenges […] has never been greater,” the report argues.