Source: Meagan Fitzpatrick, CBC News, March 10, 2016
Agreement comes ahead of Oval Office meeting between Canada’s PM Trudeau and U.S. President Obama
Canada and the United States have agreed to take joint steps to fight climate change, including cutting methane emissions from the oil and gas industry and signing the Paris climate deal “as soon as feasible,” the White House said today.
The joint statement released by the White House ahead of a meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Oval Office says the two leaders share a common vision of a sustainable North America, and want their countries to be global leaders in the fight against climate change and in protecting the Arctic.
Reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector is a main commitment laid out in the statement, setting a goal of reducing them by 40 to 45 per cent below 2012 levels by 2025.
Environment Canada will regulate emissions from new and existing oil and gas sources, the statement said, and move “as expeditiously as possible” to implement national regulations in collaboration with the provinces and territories and other stakeholders. The department intends to publish an initial phase of proposed regulations by early 2017.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will develop regulations on the south side of the border and starting next month will start a process to require companies to provide information about their methane emissions.
Both countries also committed to reducing emissions from hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and said in their public procurement processes that they will seek to buy greener equipment and products.
They also said they would continue to collaborate on emission standards for vehicles, and would work on adopting a carbon offset measure in 2016 for the aviation sector.
The announcement said Obama and Trudeau consider the agreement reached in Paris a “turning point” in global efforts to combat climate change, and they will work together to implement it, committing to joining it and signing it “as soon as feasible.”
Another part of the joint plan involves co-operating on clean energy. The two countries intend to collaborate on expanding wind, solar and other renewable energy sources and on clean energy research.
Engaging other nations
Trudeau and Obama are announcing a new partnership to “embrace the opportunities and to confront the challenges in the changing Arctic.”
It includes sticking to the goals of protecting at least 17 per cent of land areas and 10 per cent of marine areas by 2020, and ideally going beyond those goals, the plan said. Obama and Trudeau want to engage other Arctic nations to develop a pan-Arctic marine protection area network.
The plan also talks about building a sustainable Arctic economy, and says commercial activities will only occur when the highest safety and environmental standards are met. Shipping corridors will be developed to have as little impact as possible on the environment.
Trudeau and Obama also want a binding international agreement to prevent the opening of unregulated fisheries in the central Arctic, and Canada has offered to host talks.