Prime Minister Trudeau yesterday released new mandate letters to cabinet ministers including the Ministers of Environment and Climate Change and Natural Resources, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. Every minister has been directed to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (read our earlier bulletin here).
This bulletin summarizes key climate, energy, and Indigenous objectives highlighted in the ministers’ new mandates:
Environment and Climate Change
Minister Guilbeault’s mandate letter situates the minister as the key driver of the federal government’s Climate Plan, delivering on policy and fiscal measures provided in the Strengthened Climate Plan and adopting measures to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Key objectives include:
- Implement the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, and bring forward an updated Emissions Reduction Plan to achieve a 40 to 45 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 from 2005 levels.
- Cap oil and gas sector emissions at current levels and ensure that the sector makes an ambitious and achievable contribution to meeting the 2030 climate goals.
- Develop a plan to reduce economy-wide methane emissions consistent with the Global Methane Pledge and require through regulations the reduction of oil and gas methane emissions in Canada by at least 75 per cent below 2012 levels by 2030.
- Support the global effort to phase out coal-powered electricity and the mining of thermal coal, and ban thermal coal exports from and through Canada no later than 2030.
- Work with industry, labour, and other stakeholders to develop a regulated sales mandate that at least 50 per cent of all new light-duty vehicle sales be zero emissions vehicles in 2030, toward achieving Canada’s mandatory target of 100 per cent by 2035.
- Introduce a Clean Electricity Standard to achieve a net-zero clean electricity grid by 2035.
- Finalize Canada’s first National Adaptation Strategy in 2022.
- Work with relevant ministries, provinces, and territories to move toward mandatory climate-related financial disclosures based on the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures framework.
- Work with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis partners to facilitate new Indigenous Guardians programs and establish new Indigenous Guardians Networks, and support Indigenous communities to build capacity to establish more Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas
- Work in partnership with First Nations, Inuit, and the Métis Nation to address climate change and its impacts, and chart collaborative strategies.
Natural Resources
Minister Wilkinson’s mandate letter recognizes the need to build a healthier, more resilient future and take strong action on climate change that supports a Just Transition.
Key objectives include:
- Advance near-term consultations with provinces, territories, and Indigenous communities to develop and implement strategies to decarbonize electricity systems by establishing a Pan-Canadian Grid Council, support the transformation from diesel-fueled power to clean, renewable, and reliable energy by 2030, and work to connect regions with carbon intensive electricity systems to more clean power.
- Cap oil and gas sector emissions at current levels and ensure that the sector makes an ambitious and achievable contribution to meeting the 2030 climate goals.
- Accelerate Canada’s G20 commitment to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies from 2025 to 2023 and develop a plan to phase out public financing of the fossil fuel sectors.
- Support the future and livelihood of workers and their communities in the transition to a low carbon economy.
- Support the implementation of the Net Zero Accelerator Initiative.
- Work with the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry to establish a global centre for excellence on methane detection and elimination and develop a sustainable battery innovation and industrial ecosystem in Canada and launch a Canada-U.S. Battery Alliance.
- Introduce a new Buy Clean Strategy to support and prioritize the use of made-in-Canada low-carbon products in Canadian infrastructure projects.
- Reduce pollution from transportation by adding 50,000 new electric vehicle chargers and hydrogen stations to Canada’s network.
- Work with provinces and territories, communities and Indigenous Peoples to develop and implement a National Net-Zero Emissions Building Strategy to achieve net-zero emissions from buildings by 2050.
- Continue to develop a new national benefits-sharing framework to ensure that First Nations and Métis Nation communities directly benefit from major resource projects in their territories, and that Inuit communities benefit from major resource projects in Inuit Nunangat.
Finance
The mandate letter for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance highlights the priority of bolstering an inclusive economic recovery that supports Canada’s climate goals and accelerates the transition to a net-zero economy by 2050.
Key objectives include:
- Work with the Prime Minister to champion the adoption of a global minimum standard on carbon pricing and engage with provinces, territories, and key trading partners, including the US and the EU, to inform the development of an approach to applying Border Carbon Adjustments (BCAs) to emissions-intensive imports such as steel, cement, and aluminium.
- Ensure budgetary measures are consistent with the federal government’s climate goals and the legislated requirement to achieve net-zero emissions by no later than 2050.
- Introduce an investment tax credit for capital invested in Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage projects.
- Require federally regulated institutions, including financial institutions, pension funds and government agencies, to issue climate-related financial disclosures and net-zero plans.
- Launch an annual program of green bond issuances, with an initial issuance of $5 billion.
- Establish a new Futures Fund for Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador that supports local and regional economic diversification and place-based strategies.
- Support clean energy and clean technologies by introducing additional investment tax credits for renewable energy and battery storage solutions, doubling the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit for minerals essential to the manufacture of vital clean technologies, and establishing an investment tax credit of up to 30 per cent for a broad range of clean technologies, both market-ready and emerging.
- Advance the priority of Indigenous communities to reclaim full jurisdiction over tax matters.
For further information or to discuss the contents of this bulletin, please contact Lisa DeMarco at lisa@resilientllp.com.
