There are a lot of fun things that happen at the end of the year, like winter holidays and a break from school.
But as 2024 comes to an end, there’s one not-so-fun reality to deal with.
It’s been the hottest year on record.
I talked to Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s minister of environment and climate change, over Zoom from my home in British Columbia on Nov. 27.
He had recently returned to Canada from the United Nations’ annual climate change conference, COP29, which was held this year in Baku, Azerbaijan, from Nov. 11 to 22.
As this major climate conference came to an end, I wanted to know what Canada’s plans are for battling climate change in 2025.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What was your experience at COP29? Is there a particular moment that stands out?
A: Perhaps for people who are less familiar with what a COP is, COP stands for Conference of Parties. And by parties we really mean countries who signed on in 1992 to the [United Nations] climate change convention. So almost 200 nations have been working together for over 30 years, to try and get a grip on climate change, which is a very complex and global problem to deal with. So the last of those meetings was the 29th Conference of parties [COP29]. I’ve been doing this for quite some time: I was at the first conference of parties in 1995 in Berlin.
These meetings take place in a very large venue. Tens of thousands of people are participating from all over the world: government negotiators, Indigenous representatives, people from environmental organizations, experts, workers, representatives of trade unions. These meetings last for about two weeks and they’re very intense. We, Canada, announced a new initiative to help countries in the Global South face the impacts of climate change. It’s a new international fund called GAIA. It’s a $2 billion fund and it was very, very well received, especially by small island developing states. So groups of small islands in the Caribbeans and the Pacific who are facing the brunt of the impacts of climate change — through hurricanes, for example, and sea level rise — and they were very happy with our announcement.
Tuvalu, the fourth-smallest country in the world, is one of many Pacific island nations threatened by rising sea levels. (Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Q: Nigeria’s special envoy on climate called this year’s deal “a joke.” And you said you’d rather see no agreement at COPs than a bad agreement. So do you think COP29 was a failure or a success?
A: I certainly wouldn’t call it a joke, but I do think that on many elements, it did not go far enough.
For example, one of the goals of these conferences has to be about how we reduce pollution to prevent climate change, and the agreement was a bit weak on that. In fact, quite, quite weak. It was also very weak on how we help the Global South and the developing world adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Now, it’s not to say that we weren’t able to agree on certain things. We have new international objectives where countries like Canada, the European Union, the United States and others will provide funding to help countries in the South. And it’s three times more than the previous international engagement. So tripling what was already on the table is certainly something important, but there’s a lot more work we need to do.
Q: You have a front-row seat to these international climate negotiations. What goes through your mind while you’re trying to fall asleep at night? Are you despairing? Are you hopeful?
A: So as I said earlier, I’ve been doing this for over 30 years. So either I’m some kind of masochist or I’m a very optimistic person, because I keep going year after year. And the reason I do that [is because] we have seen progress, not enough and certainly not fast enough, but we are seeing progress in the fight against climate change globally — not everywhere at the same pace, but it is happening.
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Some people say, “Oh, it’s too complicated, the United Nations, it’s too slow.” And yes, it’s complicated, and yes, it’s not fast enough, but how else are we going to solve this unless we work?
Together, internationally, with all the nations of the world, there’s not one nation in the world that’s powerful enough, that has enough money or technologies by itself, to be able to solve climate change. No one can do that. China can’t do that, the United States of America can’t do that. The European Union can’t do that. So it’s only by working together that we will be able to solve this global issue.
Activists protest against fossil fuels and for climate finance at COP29 on Nov. 22 in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Image credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Q: I live in B.C. There was flooding here last week and atmospheric rivers are becoming more and more common. But this isn’t limited to me, of course. There are kids in Atlantic Canada who are losing their homes to hurricanes, and in Western Canada, kids can’t go outside in the summer because of smoke. And in the North, kids are losing their traditional way of life because the winters aren’t as cold anymore. What do you say to kids like me who are watching the climate change before our eyes and feel powerless?
A: It’s going to take years and years of sustained effort, but we can avoid the worst impacts of climate change and we can help the planet to heal. That will take some time. That will take some efforts, and we’re all in this together and it’s important that people don’t despair.
Because if they do and if they give up, then who’s going to work? Who’s going to pick up the fight? Because it is a collective fight. And obviously someone like me, as a cabinet minister, I have a very important responsibility when it comes to doing more. But we’re all in this together. And it is together that we will be able to find solutions to this.
Q: We know fossil fuels are a major contributor to climate change. Canada remains the fourth-largest oil producer in the world and production this year is only expected to increase. Critics are saying that the federal government is providing billions of dollars in financial support to the fossil fuel industry. How can you, on one hand, say the Canadian government is committed to fighting climate change when the government is supporting the expansion of the oil industry?
A: Well, the good news is that we’re no longer supporting the expansion of the oil industry. The 20 largest countries in the world are called the G20. And in 2009, this group of countries, which includes Canada and 19 others, made a commitment that by 2025 they would eliminate [inefficient] subsidies to fossil fuels [subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption.] Now in 2024, Canada is the only country in the world to have [put a framework in place to do that]. No one else has done this, within the G20 at least. So we’ve made some progress. Now some people would like the federal government to stop the production of fossil fuels, for example, or to cut it. That’s not something we can do because the Canadian Constitution says that the use of natural resources like oil or hydroelectricity or minerals, this is not a federal jurisdiction. This is up to the provinces to decide what they do with it and how they want it.
I’ve announced recently that we would be putting in place a cap, a ceiling if you wish, on the levels of pollution from the oil and gas sector. And that ceiling will come down over time, so that regardless of what happens to the production of fossil fuels in Canada, companies will have to reduce their level of pollution to ensure that Canada can contribute to the international efforts to fight climate change.
The sculpture Giant Plastic Tap by Benjamin Von Wong, displayed in Ottawa, Ontario, on April 23, coinciding with a meeting of the UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution. (Image credit: Dave Chan/Getty Images)
Q: Do you think there’s a need for that kind of culture shift when it comes to the way we, as a country, think about natural resources?
A: I think we need to look at the type of relationship we’ve had with the environment, with the planet. We’ve tended to look at natural resources as something to be exploited and not something to be conserved, to be protected, and certainly environmental stewardship. And we’re talking about climate change, but we could talk about what needs to happen on nature. Fighting plastic pollution, I think, will force us to change our mindset when it comes to looking at our relationship with the environment.
Q: We already know that 2024 is set to be the hottest year on record. What do you say to kids who are worried that 2025 will be the same or worse?
A: Well, as I said, it’s going to take years and years of sustained work in Canada, but also globally, to tackle this problem.
Ten years ago, scientists were telling us that in the next 100 years, basically over the next 75 years or so, temperatures were going to increase by 4 C, which is a lot — because the climate changes that we’re seeing right now [are happening with] only 1 C of warming compared to pre-industrial levels. Now, because of everything we’ve done since the country signed the Paris Accord in 2015, those same scientists are telling us that we’re now heading into a world where temperatures would increase by around 2.5, 2.6 C.
That’s too much, but that’s much better than four. So what we’re doing collectively is working, but we have to continue doing it and we have to do it faster.
Q: Statistics Canada has noted that low-income and Indigenous people in Canada often bear the brunt of climate change. What plans do you have to combat environmental racism in Canada in 2025?
A: A couple of them. Last year we announced Canada’s first-ever national adaptation strategy, which we co-developed with Indigenous peoples, provinces, territories, municipalities, experts, environmental organizations, and right now we’re in the process of implementing the various elements of that strategy with a particular focus on the most vulnerable.
We’ve also changed the Canadian Environmental Protection Act — which is the pillar, federally, of pretty much everything we do to protect the environment — to include in that act a right to a healthy environment. [It’s the] first time in Canadian law that [this happened]. And I changed that law last year. And the last thing I would say is that we also worked with the Green Party of Canada to adopt a new legislation specifically [focusing] on environmental racism. That will force the federal government, whenever we look at new projects, new development, to pay special attention to the needs of the most vulnerable and the most impacted by environmental pollution in Canada.
School Strikes 4 Climate around the world have been led by students frustrated by climate inaction on the part of their governments. This protest took place in Melbourne, Australia, on May 21, 2021. (Image credit: Graham Denholm/Getty Images)
Q: Kids hear all the time how great it is to see them out fighting for a climate future. But there’s a lot of anxiety among kids about what that future will look like based on what’s happening with the climate now. How optimistic are you about my future and my sisters’ future?
A: Well, I certainly understand the anxiety. I have four kids myself. So we often talk about these things together. As a minister of the environment, we’ve created a youth council to advise me, as environment minister, and work with the Department of Environment and Climate Change. I’m an optimistic person by nature, because being pessimistic would be to give up on this. And I don’t think we can give up. I don’t think there’s any other solution than working hard together to rise up to the challenge.
I think the situation, as I was saying earlier, looked a lot more bleak just 10 years ago than it does now. But we also have to be very honest with people. We have entered the era of climate change. There are more and more natural catastrophes and it’s going to take some time before things get better. But they can get better and they need to get better. And that’s what I’m focusing all of my energies on.
On July 6, firefighters used helicopters to drop water on fires burning in Los Padres National Forest in California, USA. (Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Q: Do you have any final message to kids about climate?
A: We need your support, we need your energy. We need your voices in discussions, which is why whenever Canada goes to these international meetings, we reserve some spots on the Canadian delegation for youth representatives. We’re one of the few countries in the world to do that, which is why both the prime minister and I have youth advisory bodies to help us in our day-to-day work, to ensure that we always keep the interests and the views and the vision of youth first and foremost in what we do. So I know sometimes it looks bleak and it’s tough, but we have to hang in there because that’s how we’ll accomplish this.
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