Justin Trudeau accomplished more on climate action than any other Prime Minister – and less than what’s needed for a safe future

Unceded Anishinaabe Algonquin Territories [OTTAWA], 6 January 2025:

In response to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation announcement today, Caroline Brouillette, Executive Director of Climate Action Network Canada, issued the following statement:

“Justin Trudeau has accomplished more on climate policy than any other Canadian Prime Minister so far.

“The past 10 years have seen a revolution in how we tackle climate change in Canada: moving from a piecemeal and voluntary approach towards one where the government proactively plans, across departments and sectors of the economy, to reduce emissions to reach our climate targets. The report that Canada’s pollution has now fallen below pre-pandemic levels is a tribute to the effectiveness of this work.

“The resulting policies have contributed to, and will continue, improving the lives of people and communities by reducing unhealthy air pollution; lowering the costs of green technologies for transportation and home heating and cooling; establishing the building blocks of an economy abundant in good, unionized clean energy jobs; and showing that Canada understands that international cooperation is essential to making climate action work.

“Yet at the same time, under Justin Trudeau, we have seen that no climate approach will be successful without dismantling the fossil fuel industry’s grip on Canada’s policy and politics and challenging the colonial and neoliberal models that have captured our institutions. The government’s costly purchase of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, a day after declaring a climate emergency, shook many Canadians’ faith in its seriousness on climate action—and illustrates the incoherence of aspiring to climate leadership while seeking to appease oil and gas interests.

“The next Liberal leader must build on and learn from Trudeau’s legacy, and expand our collective imagination with big and bold climate policies that bring concrete, tangible benefits to Canadians. We look forward to a Liberal leadership race where candidates compete on visions of a just transition away from fossil fuels for our country, one that makes life safer and more affordable for Canadians.

“As Canada takes on the G7 Presidency and a federal election approaches, this task should not be limited to the Liberal Party; all political parties and jurisdictions must center robust and inclusive climate action.”

Key accomplishments on climate from the Trudeau government over the last decade include:

• Passing Canada’s first comprehensive climate legislation to enshrine long-term goals in law and bring effective governance, predictability and transparency to climate planning, through the Net Zero Emissions Accountability Act;
• Strengthening Canada’s 2030 climate target, and setting a 2035 target, though both still fall short of Canada’s fair share of the global climate effort;
• Introducing regulations to limit pollution from the oil and gas sector—which must be finalized before the next election is called;
• Ensuring workers and communities have a say in building Canada’s new economy through the Sustainable Jobs Act;
• Putting serious money on the table for international climate finance—a pledge which needs to be renewed and tripled in the next budget;
• Adopting the National Strategy Respecting Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice Act, which will require the government to move forward with tackling environmental racism and environmental justice;
• Making progress on phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, although much more work is needed to end public financing;
• Planning to keep people safe through the Canada’s first National Adaptation Strategy;
• Putting in place key regulations and investments to bring down emissions in the electricity, transportation, industry, and agriculture sectors;
• Launching, with the European Union and China, a new forum to encourage global ambition through the Ministerial meetings on Climate Action; and
• Adopting a pan-Canadian carbon pricing backstop.

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