VANCOUVER — Matt Horne, director of the Pembina Institute's climate change program, made the following statement in response to the conclusion of the UN climate change conference in Durban, South Africa:
"The decision to launch talks on a new global climate agreement with legal force represents a potentially significant step forward. But a new deal will only be as effective as the level of ambition that countries are willing to bring to the table.
"Current pledges still leave the world on a course for more than 3˚C of warming. The coming months will be crucial for countries to demonstrate a willingness to make progress towards an effective agreement and to collectively increase their level of ambition.
"Failing to make progress will leave the world increasingly exposed to the risks that rising sea levels, increasing temperatures and more severe storms pose to our environment and economy.
"Canada was marginalized at Durban because of the country's failure to present constructive solutions or meaningful action. Our country has regrettably passed up countless opportunities to demonstrate a willingness to do our fair share.
"Restoring Canada's credibility will take hard work. It will require much stronger actions from federal, provincial, and municipal governments if clean energy is going to become the status quo. All parts of the country and all sectors of the economy will need to be more vocal in their calls for solutions for that change to happen."
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Contact:
Matt Horne (Vancouver, B.C.)
Director, Climate Change
Cell: 778-235-1476
P.J. Partington (New York, NY)
Technical & Policy Analyst, Climate Change
Cell: 646-538-1913
Kevin Sauvé (Vancouver, B.C.)
Communications Lead
Cell: 604-354-2628
Background:
- Canada's Performance and Positions in Durban (Pembina Institute blog post)
- Evaluation of the Government of Canada's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Policies (Submission to Climate Change Performance Index 2012)
- Bridging the Emissions Gap (UNEP synthesis report)
- Final documents from the Durban meeting will be available at unfccc.int