Adaptation to climate change | Quebec pays 10 million for developing countries

The Government of Quebec is again contributing $10 million to the United Nations Climate Change Adaptation Fund this year, Minister Benoit Charette will announce this Tuesday at the 27^e United Nations climate conference (COP27), in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Jean-Thomas Léveillé
The Press

A year ago, the Legault government had also contributed 10 million to this fund intended to help developing countries adapt to the consequences of climate change, during COP26, thus multiplying by more than three the contribution of 3 million. of 2019.

With this new contribution, Québec will finance projects relating to food security, water management, sustainable agriculture, coastal zone management, forests and natural disaster risk reduction.

This contribution is part of the “concept of climate justice”, which wants the States most responsible for climate change to help those who suffer the most to deal with it, explained Benoit Charette, Minister of the Environment, Fight against climate change, Wildlife and Parks, in an interview with The Press.

Such aid “does not remove the obligation to reduce” Quebec’s emissions, which continue to fuel the climate crisis, the minister acknowledges, hastening to add that his government “has a very substantial plan” in matter.

“We are making efforts on Quebec soil,” he said, indicating that next spring he will present the third version of his plan for implementing government climate objectives.

“We would be carbon neutral tomorrow morning and we would still have to suffer the impacts of climate change, that we would have to adapt to it, at least for the next 20 years,” he adds.

Other funds pledged

Benoit Charette promises to contribute to possible international financing of the “loss and damage” suffered by developing countries due to climate change, an issue that is the subject of fierce discussions at COP27.

“Since the fund has not yet been set up, we have not committed ourselves, but the interest is there,” he assures us.

Scotland announced funds for loss and damage as early as last year at COP26, but Quebec is “playing it safe,” said Minister Charette.

The Legault government also chooses to contribute to the United Nations Adaptation Fund rather than to other initiatives because it offers transparency, guarantees of results and sound management of public funds, explains Mr. Charette.

It is also in “straight line” with its Green Economy Plan, which recognizes the importance of working with developing countries, he adds.

“Quebec is one of the rare federated states to contribute to this fund,” boasts the minister.

Quebec also announced on Monday a contribution of $6.6 million over three years to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to support the agricultural sector in Senegal, Côte d Ivoire and Haiti, hit hard by the climate crisis.

Tax pollution

COP27 is also an opportunity for Benoit Charette to talk about the ban on the sale of combustion engine vehicles or the carbon market in Quebec and California.

“It’s always fascinating to see how much we are solicited by other states,” says the minister.

If this interest has not yet resulted in the addition of new participants in the carbon market, it is because Quebec is “more attentive to partnerships,” explains Minister Charette.

“We are looking less for partners who would be sellers [de droits de polluer]we are looking for partners who would be buyers”, he specifies.

The Minister adds that the interest of other states often concerns the “tools” and “protocols” that Quebec has developed, believing that the important thing is not so much to expand the Quebec-California carbon market as to so that pricing on pollution multiplies.

“Ultimately, what we want, he says, is for there to be a carbon tax that is implemented across the planet. »