COP27: Quebec needs to catch up in the fight against the climate crisis

For immediate release.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT, 4 November 2022 :

A few days before COP27 opens in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Quebec civil society groups are urging François Legault’s government to catch up as it increasingly lags behind.

COP27 must not be limited to the conclusion of business agreements. Climate justice will be at the heart of this COP, with enhanced ambition critical to achieving human rights for all. the government’s actions must be consistent and go beyond that. While most states submitted new climate plans at COP26, Quebec showed up empty-handed. If Quebec wants to live up to its self-proclaimed title of climate leader at COP27, it must catch up and do its fair share of the global climate effort to limit global warming to 1.5°C. While the choice of hydroelectricity in the 1960s to 1980s makes Quebec a low emitter in North America, its emissions remain too high to prevent the worst effects of the climate crisis on a global scale. Ignoring this is ignoring our responsibility.

With the latest United Nations Synthesis Report showing that the world is heading towards a dangerous 2.5°C warming, analysis establishes that Quebec’s target is insufficient; its fair share is a 178% reduction below 1990 levels by 2030. Quebec must therefore increase its domestic target to at least 65% below 1990 levels by 2030. During COP27, Quebec must also announce new measures to significantly reduce GHG emissions and enhance its Green Economy Plan, which only achieves 51% of Quebec’s current 2030 target. The Quebec government must propose an adaptation strategy and initiate a dialogue to agree on a Pacte Vert to improve the capacity of cities to deal with climate change. In addition to continuing to fund adaptation outside its borders, it should follow Scotland’s lead and announce at COP27 a contribution to financing loss and damage in the Global South. It should also participate more ambitiously as a member of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance and push back against any talk of fossil fuels, particularly gas, as a solution to the energy crisis.

The groups are also asking that Quebec’s greenhouse gas emissions inventory for 2020 be published during COP27. They reiterate the importance of greater real-time transparency on the part of the government, both for GHG emission reduction measures and for the emissions inventory.

Barely two weeks after COP27, international environmental negotiations will continue in Montreal, at the biodiversity COP15. Holding these two major UN COPs within a month of each other represents an unprecedented opportunity to link the responses needed for both crises – which Quebec must not miss. To do so, it must announce in Sharm el-Sheikh its plan to systematically integrate biodiversity protection into all stages of territorial planning, including targets of at least 30% of nature to be protected and specific targets for southern Quebec, all in partnership with Indigenous nations.

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