What is Canada’s role in the Cop30 climate conference? Who knows – nationally
Canada and the National Weather Service are headed to Brazil for the next two weeks as leaders gather for the year’s clean climate talks.
The speeches come as Prime Minister Park Carney, in the evidence of the climate in the world’s evidence helped to lower the funding of this year’s election, remembering his scrutiny of other policies of oil and gas, the main source of Canadian emissions.
Another focus is expected to be how the world will adapt to the risks of climate change – and how countries will pay for those reduced capacities.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the landmark Paris agreement, and leaders will face questions about whether the agreement is working and if countries are pulling back on their climate commitments, said Catherine Abreu, a Canadian climate policy expert.
But he is optimistic: “I think we will see a strong political culture coming out of (the conference) most of the world is definitely still committed to this process,” Abreu, a member of the organization’s independent advisory group, said before the meetings.
Here’s what else you need to know.
The name of the Summit stands for the 30th conference of the signatories of the United Nations Forky convention on climate change.
This year, Brazil will host the conference in Belém, a city known as the gateway to the Amazon River.
That place is a stark reminder of what’s at stake if emissions aren’t kept in CHECK, as climate change and deforestation transform the rainforest into a dark, fire-prone savanna.
Unlike the conference 10 years ago in Paris, the host Brazil revealed that the police are focused on following the existing deals, rather than moving on to a new government.
It will focus more on adaptation – how to make countries more resilient to increasing climate risks, from rising sea levels to extreme heat. Netions is set to finalize a list of about 100 indicators used to track global progress, such as how many people have access to reliable drinking water and are able to tolerate drought-inducing damage.
There is still debate about how to track developing countries that say they need to change their adaptation targets. The groups looking for indicators that can include all the funds of the variable funds that flow to local governments, indigenous peoples or indigenous peoples, show the broad objective of promoting climate equality in distribution.
The talks will look to advance the main results of last year’s talks: a pledge to mobilize at least $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 in climate finance. There will be negotiations on an agreement two years ago to triple renewable energy by 2030 and transition away from fossil fuels, the main driver of man-made climate change.
More than half of the countries present at the talks have visited national climate change programs, called nationally determined contributions. Those plans, released earlier this year, represent each country’s contribution to the fight against climate change and are intended to be strengthened every five years in an increasing ambition cycle.
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Abreu said he expects to see a push in the leaders’ talks to explain how “countries will fill this gap.”
Federal officials say Canada will continue to play a bridging role to help countries reach ratification of some of the Convention’s key issues. The authorities, who married journalists before the speeches, said Canada will support calls to improve climate finance and keep global warming goals within reach.
But climate watchers say Canada’s support for oil and gas expansion, and its reluctance to meet its 2030 and 2035 emissions targets, could be among the issues undermining its position.
Advocates pointed to the latest federal budget, which did not provide information on how the price of industrial carbon will be strengthened, it was mentioned setting aside Canada’s Infrastructure Cap in that sector of Canada’s Infrastructure in that sector.
“There is no way we can make those commitments given the current ways the Government is moving forward in the oil and gas industry in Canada,” said Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, President of the AthaBasca Chisewyan First Nation.
Derangeri said that in the last ten years it has accepted indigenous proposals at the UN climate conference, especially around more money for reform and climate finance.
Still, “when it comes to home startups, it’s flat,” she said.
Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin will lead the Canadian delegation during the first week of the conference. Prime Minister Park Carney, a former UN special envoy for climate finance and conference convener, is not expected to attend as his government faces adjime votes.
Reduced participation in Pre-Summit events, seen by some as a sign of global focus on climate change. The meeting of heads of state earlier this week saw almost half the attendance of last year’s summit, with a notable absence of the leaders of the planet’s most encouraging rivals: China, the United States and India.
This conference will also take place in the shadow of the US withdrawing from the Paris Agreement for the second time under President Donald Trump.
Abreu said it could be as good as it gets.
“I think that actually could have the effect of the whole world being able to come up with some solutions together without that presence of disruption,” he said.
Does the Paris Agreement still matter?
Ten years ago, world leaders agreed to an agreement in Paris to limit global warming by two degrees and aim for 1.5 times more in the industrial future.
Catherine McKenna, who helped negotiate the agreement as Canada’s territorial minister, said the agreement is “groundbreaking.” Before Paris, there were no clear global warming targets and no framework for how each country could do their part.
In 2015, the planet was on track to warm by about 3.5 c by the end of this century, the UN said. Now, if countries live up to their climate plans, that could be closer to 2.5 C.
While that is progress, experts say that the rate of warming will still make heat waves bearable in some areas, threatening coastal countries lost to the sea, among other issues.
“It’s not where we need to be,” Mckene said. “But (the Paris Agreement) became very important. Without it, we wouldn’t have this framework, we wouldn’t have found ways to check integrity, we wouldn’t have goals.”
The legacy of the deal also reflects the popularity of renewable energy, Abreu said.
This year, investment in clean energy is expected to double the amount invested in fossil fuels. Fossil Fuels continue to dominate Global Energy with about 60 percent, but first, renewable and nuclear energy sources cover two generations of the year in 2024, said the International Energy Agency.
The important thing now is to see the size of the recovery up as quickly as possible to push the saturated fat, he said.
“We really need to get around the curve on that.”
