The presence of Quebec’s superminister of energy at COP27 creates a lot of expectations. Greenpeace Canada hopes that Pierre Fitzgibbon will become aware of climate issues and will not limit himself to concluding economic “deals”.
The minister of Benoît Charette is not the only emissary of the Quebec government sent to Sharm el-Sheikh, in Egypt, on the occasion of the international environmental high mass. His colleague from Economy and Energy is also dropping by to try to attract investors from the green economy.
“We hope that he will become aware of the scale of the climate crisis and will change his speech and his approach which, in the past, has been far from being convincing in terms of environmental convictions”, underlines Patrick Bonin, spokesperson. from Greenpeace Canada.
He recalls that Pierre Fitzgibbon has already made himself the “promoter of GNL-Québec”, the project to set up a natural gas liquefaction plant in Saguenay.
Patrick Bonin adds that COP27 is not an economic forum, but a UN world conference on the fight against global warming and its impacts.
“Will he have an epiphany and return as a great green warrior? I doubt it, but we can hope that if he takes advantage of his presence to broaden his mission to much more than simply trying to make economic deals, it could be positive, ”insists the environmentalist.
Since the energy transition is crucial in the fight against climate change, Québec solidaire believes that the presence of the Minister of Energy at COP27 is desirable. But MP Alejandra Zaga Mendez invites Pierre Fitzgibbon not to limit himself to handshakes.
“He must listen to the experts who are taking part in COP27 and come back to Quebec with concrete, science-backed solutions to make our energy sector a world leader,” she argues.
Many were surprised to learn that the Minister of Energy was going to Egypt. The press release issued by his colleague from the Environment simply made no reference to Pierre Fitzgibbon’s presence at the global forum.
According to a list provided by his firm, Pierre Fitzgibbon will take advantage of his visit to the event to meet around thirty companies and representatives of civil society, from GM to Arcelor Mittal, via the Solidarity Fund QFL. He will also take part in panels on the subject of the energy transition.