Okay, so Canada’s fallen behind on EV adoption. But let’s look at another area of the climate fight: Curbing corporate emissions. We must be leading at that, right?
*Looks at a new report on corporate emissions* Oh c’mon!
What happened: Canada is the worst-performing G7 nation for reducing corporate sector carbon emissions, per a new study from CDP and Oliver Wyman.
If global emissions fell at the rate of Canada’s corporate emissions, temperatures would soar 3.1°C above pre-industrial levels—a far cry from the 1.5°C Paris climate agreement target.
Why it’s happening: Only 43% of Canadian corporations have carbon emissions targets. For comparison, over 90% of corporations in France and Germany do, per the report.
- Currently, Canada is drafting a model for how oil and gas companies must reduce emissions, but no such plan exists for other large corporations.
It’s led to some embarrassing moments on the global stage, like last week when Canada’s banks learned they could get booted from a UN banking coalition because of their meagre climate commitments.
Zoom out: The report found that no G7 country has a corporate sector reducing emissions fast enough to meet the Paris Agreement target, just some countries are doing it better.
Big picture: Canada’s commitments to the Paris Agreement and its net-zero by 2050 goals are not impossible without corporations being held accountable for tracking emissions.
Canada has historically never reached its climate targets, so we won’t hold our breath.