Canada has set up a $400 million fund to help developing countries cope with climate change, a move that has earned the country a rare cheer from environmentalists.
The fund is Canada’s contribution to an annual $30 billion global pot that rich countries agreed to establish through at a climate gathering last December in Copenhagen. The financial commitment, good through 2012, was one of the few concrete outcomes of the meeting, which had planned to broker a global deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions between 2012 and 2020.
Environment Minister Jim Prentice said Canada is responsible for 2 per cent of the world’s emissions but is contributing 4 per cent of the fund.
“This contribution is consistent with our traditional share of developed country donor pledges in the context of multilateral international assistance efforts,” Prentice said Wednesday. “It will help developing countries reduce emissions and support adaptation and capacity building.”
A number of environmental groups that have traditionally been critical of the Conservative government welcomed the announcement, but said it would be troubling if this money came from funds that would normally go toward more traditional aid work in poor countries.
The U.S., the European Union, Japan, Australia and Norway have already announced their contributions to the three-year climate fund, bringing the pot to more than $10 billion. Canada’s contribution is on par with the funding announced by Norway ($333 million a year), Germany ($421 million in 2010), and France ($502 million a year).
“I think that Canada’s showing its interest in supporting significant progress in the Copenhagen Accord and it’s also understanding climate change in the broader development context, which are two developments that are very good to see,” said John Drexhage, climate change director with the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
Prentice also said he plans to introduce regulations to limit emissions from the electricity sector sometime next year. Those rules would set new emissions standards for coal-fired generating plants and prohibit the construction of new coal plants, such as those operating in Ontario, unless they are equipped with technology to pipe emissions into permanent storage underground.
Ontario energy minister Brad Duguid welcomed the announcement. But he said if Ottawa wants to close coal plants, as Ontario is doing, it should help fund energy conservation programs and renewable energy sources.
“We’re ahead of every other jurisdiction in the world” in phasing out coal, he said. “But we hope it’s also an indication that if it’s an important issue to them, there will also be federal support coming to assist provincial populations adjusting to this type of initiative.”
