Quebec Minister of the Environment Benoit Charette hopes that the final declaration of the United Nations climate conference (COP28) will include a commitment to phasing out fossil fuels. Such language has never been approved by the signatory countries of the Paris Agreement.
“I hope that the global framework will indicate the need to withdraw from fossil fuels,” he underlined Thursday morning when he was questioned by journalists before question period in the National Assembly.
According to him, this exit from oil, gas and coal is essential for respecting the climate commitments made within the framework of the Paris Climate Agreement, and the targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions which lead us towards carbon neutrality.
“I’m going to wish that was in the agreement. I don’t know if there is a specific timetable that will be determined, but we cannot rule it out. We will never be able to achieve our targets if we do not withdraw from fossil fuels,” insisted the Minister of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks.
Mr. Charette at the same time recalled the decision of the CAQ government to put an end to oil and gas exploration in Quebec, after years of debate on a possible start of this industrial sector. Quebec nevertheless consumes nearly 18 billion liters of petroleum products per year today, and this level of consumption “should be maintained until 2030,” according to the most recent edition of the State of Energy in Quebec. Quebec also consumes natural gas and this resource, like oil, is imported.
Benoit Charette, who will participate in the conference, did not want to comment on the position that will be defended by Canada at COP28. On Wednesday, the government indicated that it would be in favor of including, in the final declaration, a “gradual exit” from fossil fuels whose emissions would not be captured and stored. “Canada is in favor of language that points to the elimination of emissions from the use of fossil fuels,” it was stated during a press briefing.
Does this mean that the federal government wants us to focus on the development of technological carbon capture and storage processes which are currently at the experimental stage? “There are several paths to achieving the carbon neutrality objective, and technological paths are part of the solutions for the years to come,” it was argued.
Chess
It remains to be seen whether COP28 will be able to succeed where others have failed since the signing of the Paris Agreement at COP21 in 2015. For the moment, the signatory countries have only managed to include in their final declaration the idea of a “reduction” in the use of coal without a carbon capture mechanism. This inscription was in the declaration of COP26, in 2021.
In 2022, fossil fuel producing countries managed to block the idea of extending this very loose language to oil and gas. You should know that the final declaration of the COP is adopted by consensus.
“We need to make sure we include the role of fossil fuels. I know there are strong opinions on the idea of including formulas on fossil and renewable energies in the negotiated text,” declared COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber on Thursday at the opening of the conference.
The language that will be included in the final declaration will make all the difference between a rapid exit from fossil fuels and a long-term use of energy resources which fuel the climate crisis and still lead us towards an “unrecognizable” world, according to the Group of intergovernmental experts on climate change (IPCC).
Former UN climate official Christiana Figueres, who has already criticized the growth of tar sands exploitation, has also denounced the fossil fuel industry and its influence on the COPs. “This is a meeting of all the governments of the world to advance the protection of the planet and all life on this planet, precisely because of the negative consequences of most of the activities of the oil and gas industry” , she emphasized Thursday in an interview with PBS.