Belém, Brazil, 17 November 2025:
As COP30 enters its second week, Canada is missing in action.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Julie Dabrusin attended COP last week, along with Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault, but brought little to the table to show that Canada is still committed to climate leadership.
“The best that can be said of Canada’s presence at COP so far is that it’s not as actively harmful as Prime Minister Carney’s major projects agenda back home,” said Caroline Brouillette, Executive Director of Climate Action Network Canada. “But we need better. This weekend, 70,000 people marched in the streets of Belém to demand real progress from COP30 to protect people and our planet. As the negotiations move towards the high-stakes political phase, we’re calling on Canada to get on board with the Belém Action Mechanism, show up as a real partner on finance and adaptation—and show that Canada has more to offer the world than fossil fuel pollution.”
As the powerful demonstrations from Indigenous land defenders at this COP have shown, the UNFCCC process continues to be disconnected from front-line communities and the real-world threats they are facing from climate impacts and extractive industries.
Civil society is calling for COP30 to establish the Belém Action Mechanism (BAM) for a global Just Transition to help center workers’ and communities’ voices in the UNFCCC, coordinate siloed efforts towards Just Transition, and connect climate action to peoples’ lives. Canada has not yet shown support for the BAM, even as global momentum builds. Last week, the G77+China echoed this call, and in a notable shift, the European Union made a proposal for an institutional arrangement, but Canada is still unclear on where it stands.
Meanwhile, it’s increasingly clear that public, grant-based finance—particularly for adaptation—is necessary to unlock progress across negotiating tracks. Canada, however, has not yet announced its new climate finance pledge. Minister Dabrusin’s announcement last week of $392 million supports important adaptation projects, but that commitment came from Canada’s existing 2021-2026 climate finance envelope, falling short of the forward-looking commitments urgently needed at COP30.
Energy is also growing at COP30 around a roadmap for a global transition away from fossil fuels, following up on the COP28 decision—showing the growing disconnect between where the world is heading and Canada’s oil and gas expansion plans. Civil society emphasizes that any roadmap towards a fossil fuel phase-out must be grounded in equity and cannot succeed without finance, particularly for communities already experiencing rising climate impacts.
Additional information:
- Notably, Canada has defended the role of science and the expertise of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—an important move amid rising misinformation and disinformation. Climate Action Network Canada welcomes Canada’s intervention on this, and urges the federal government to follow it up with action in line with what science demands.
- Canada also signed on to the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change. Its recent budget, however, announced plans to water down anti-greenwashing legislation.
- Fossil fuel lobbyists are again a heavy presence at this COP, making up 1 in every 25 participants in Belém, and about a dozen in the Canadian delegation identified so far.
Quotes:
Janelle Lapointe, Senior Advisor, Indigenous Strategy, David Suzuki Foundation:
“Canada’s continuous fossil fuel development at home, while reiterating their commitment to keep the world below 1.5C here at COP30 is a stark contradiction. Failure to implement a just transition and support the Belém Action Mechanism will have deadly consequences to Indigenous and Global South nations. Canada must respect the free, prior and informed consent of Nations who are resisting fast-tracked resource projects at home, and allow them to be leaders of the new energy economy.”
Willo Prince, Campaign Manager, Indigenous Climate Action:
“Canada has the audacity to come into a climate space like COP30 and paint themselves as a leader in discussions about the climate, Indigenous rights, and gender, while doubling down on fossil fuels and mining back home under Bill C-5. These major projects violate the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of Indigenous peoples and leave communities in the sacrifice zones of industry. Week 2 of COP30 will really show us if Canada is choosing climate leadership or colonial lies.”
Liz McDowell, Senior Campaigns Director, Stand.earth:
“Here in Bélem, for the first time ever at the UN climate talks, dozens of countries are calling for a roadmap to end the fossil fuel era. These leaders recognize that if we want to avoid catastrophic climate impacts, we need to work together to phase out oil, gas and coal – and we need to do it in a way that delivers a just transition for those most vulnerable, especially in the global south. Against this backdrop, it’s a real slap in the face to see Canada announce a further expansion of fossil fuels while handing even more taxpayer money to big polluters – instead of honouring our obligations to cut our emissions at home and pay our fair share globally. It’s time for Canada to step up its ambition and add our name to the call for a just transition and a fossil fuel phase out.”
Emilia Belliveau, Energy Transition Program Manager, Environmental Defence Canada:
“What’s clear from being on the ground at COP30 is that Canadians are being deceived about what constitutes climate leadership. Here we see a growing number of nations supporting proposals that advance the phaseout of fossil fuels and momentum coalescing around the call for a global just transition that supports workers and communities – yet Canada is hesitating to add its voice. The message we must take back to Canadians is that we should not settle for hollow climate policy and false-solutions because real climate solutions and leadership with moral clarity are actually abundant.”
Dr. Samantha Green, president-elect, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment:
“Fossil fuels harm the health of Canadians at every stage of the life cycle and at every part of industry—from extraction to transportation to use to disposal. We see the harms of fossil-fuel driven climate change in our communities with an increase in heat-related illness, wildfire smoke-induced respiratory disease, and Lyme disease. And we see the harms of LNG extraction with an increase in pediatric cancers and other rare diseases in communities across northern BC. We need Canada to join with other countries in advancing the phase out of fossil fuels and the Belém Action Mechanism for a global Just Transition. Action on climate change is a public health intervention. A just transition is also good for health, ensuring access to stable safe work and communities.”
Adnan Qader, Manager Water Governance and Resilience, WaterAid Canada:
“Loss and damage is not abstract; it is broken water systems, contaminated wells, and families losing the most basic right to safe water. Canada’s failure to address this leaves frontline communities without the justice they deserve.
“Adaptation can strengthen Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) systems, but it cannot undo permanent losses ; salinised aquifers, washed-out infrastructure, or communities displaced by collapsing water security. That is why the Loss and Damage Fund matters and continued investments on water-related adaptation practices.
“Without renewed, scaled up and predictable finance from wealthy countries like Canada, the Fund cannot respond to these irreversible water losses. Canada needs to continue to champion, and needs to seize the opportunity presented at this point of time, and to not step away. Communities who did the least to cause the crisis should not be the ones paying for it and the Global North owes them that much.”
Mackenzie Kuenz, Co-Founder & Co-Director Ritmos Climáticos:
“In Belém, we have seen over 70,000 people take to the streets, heavy flooding, and multiple countries calling for the end of fossil fuels. We are seeing first hand how climate change threatens culture but also how culture is also a tool to mobilize for climate justice. Working at the intersection of culture, transnational solidarity, and climate justice, we have been asked again and again by Global South delegations when Canada will step up into the image it portrays to the world. When will Canada scale up climate finance, including finance for loss and damage? When will Canada stop extractivism on Indigenous lands and throughout the Global South? When will Canada become a leader? A Just Transition cannot mean further destruction of Indigenous lands and the global south in the name of creating a “Canadian Battery.” The Belém Action Mechanism is leading the way in how to make a truly just transition. We Canadians, along with those in the Global South who believe in Canada’s diplomacy, urge Canada to join other nations in supporting the BAM.”
Shakti Ramkumar, Senior Director of Policy and Communications, Student Energy:
“Canada’s recent announcement of new investments in clean energy and job creation was welcomed by young people who face unemployment and high economic insecurity, yet Canada’s plans to continue fossil fuel expansion undercut this commitment, by locking young people and future generations into a dangerous high-emissions future. The creation of sustainable livelihoods for the next generation must be jobs that advance climate action, not predicated on industries that exacerbate climate change and perpetuate injustices in Indigenous communities. At COP30, we’re seeing growing support for the Belém Action Mechanism, a framework that recognizes intergenerational justice as a critical component of a just energy transition. We urge Canada to join other nations in signing onto the BAM to ensure the voices of youth, students, and workers, particularly from frontline and Indigenous communities, are heard in Canada’s response to climate change.”
Andréanne Martel, ReSea Project Director, Mission inclusion:
“We are living through an unprecedented moment in defending gender equality. Some Parties are trying to set us back, but we will not accept any regression.
“The climate crisis amplifies inequalities: it hits the most vulnerable first, and women pay a disproportionate price due to their care responsibilities and lack of power in society. Attempting to reduce the notion of gender to a narrow definition blocks negotiations and prevents imperative progress.
“We must defend gender-responsive climate action that accounts for the diversity of identities and socio-economic realities. There will be no just transition without gender inclusion. We therefore hope that the second week will conclude with the adoption of a new Action Plan on gender equality that is transformative and ambitious.”
For more information or to arrange an interview, contact:
Vicky Coo, Communications Manager
comms@climateactionnetwork.ca
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Canada’s farthest-reaching network of organizations working on climate and energy issues, Climate Action Network – Réseau action climat (CAN-Rac) Canada is a coalition of close to 200 organizations operating from coast to coast to coast. Our membership brings environmental groups together with trade unions, First Nations, social justice, development, health and youth organizations, faith groups and local, grassroots initiatives.