Canada’s new Minister of Environment and Climate Change remains hopeful that the 26e United Nations climate conference (COP26), which will open Sunday in Glasgow, is leading to significant progress.
“The more cautious approach is to see it as a continuum; sometimes things are better, sometimes things are worse, but that does not mean that nothing will come out of the conference “, said Steven Guilbeault at a press conference on Friday, on his fourth day in post and two days before fly to Scotland.
Various leaders, including UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have shifted from optimism to concern in the past few days, amid the lack of ambition of some countries and the decision of the bigger president of China. the planet’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter, not to attend COP26.
We would certainly have wished, in Canada, that President Xi Jinping was present at the Glasgow conference, [mais il y aura quand même] a large Chinese delegation.
Steven Guilbeault, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change
“It is a bit early to make a diagnosis of what the conference will have been like, we have two very busy weeks ahead of us,” added Minister Guilbeault.
19e COP
Former environmental activist, Steven Guilbeault is a regular at United Nations climate conferences.
“It’s my 19e, he said. My first was the premiered in 1995 in Berlin. ”
Except that this time he will play a very different role.
“In the past, I was usually sitting in the back in the room with civil society; there, I will be seated in place of Canada as the representative and as head of the Canadian delegation. There is this part that I have to learn. ”
Supported by a team he calls “extraordinary”, including some people he has known “for several decades”, he is actively preparing to assume his role.
“I would be lying if I told you that preparing us for a conference like this is easy, [mais] we will be ready when I arrive in Glasgow on Sunday ”, launches the minister.
” Do more “
Considered the most important climate event since the Paris conference in 2015, the COP26 must serve in particular to enhance the ambition of the international community in the face of climate change, from the reduction of GHG emissions to adaptation measures. .
“Clearly, we must all do more”, including Canada and Quebec, believes Minister Guilbeault, who expects difficult negotiations.
Not everyone is ready to do more and faster. Negotiation is used for that, to try to see how we can get everyone to do more and faster.
Steven Guilbeault, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change
Steven Guilbeault believes that Canada has once again become an important player in the climate plan.
As proof of this, he points to the important role that Ottawa plays in achieving one of the “key” objectives of COP26 by co-chairing with Germany the committee responsible for setting up annual funding of US $ 100 billion for help developing countries cope with the climate crisis.
“During all the Harper years, Canada was not asked to co-chair a working group on anything, not even on the hour of the day, because the international community had so little confidence in us,” he laughs. It shows that things have changed. ”