Climate Action Network Canada Charter

Preamble

Climate Action Network – Réseau action climat Canada is the farthest-reaching network of organizations taking action on climate and energy issues in the land currently called Canada. We work to forge connections and build consensus for transformative climate action and justice, at home, internationally, and by functioning as a conduit between the two.

Our mission is to combat climate change by building social consensus for the implementation of comprehensive climate change action plans by all levels of government, based on the best available science and the ethical engagement with Indigenous knowledge systems, with specific policies, targets, timetables and reporting, and to work with Canada’s governments, First Nations, Inuit and Métis, private sector, labour, and civil society for the effective implementation of these plans.

Climate change is not just an environmental problem. It is a human problem that impacts and exacerbates the most critical issues of our time, from health, to economic inequality, to racial justice. The impacts of climate change are felt by all populations and species on Earth. In order to find solutions that work, we must solve it together.

Members of Climate Action Network – Réseau action climat Canada (CAN-Rac) agree to support the mission, mandate, and activities of the Secretariat, Network, and Organization through endorsement of this Charter. The following are designed to be evergreen guidelines to steer and make plain the collective intentions of the work carried out by the Network and its Secretariat staff.

By integrating these principles, values, and policy lines, CAN-Rac leads in shaping a bold, just, and visionary path forward for climate action in what is currently called Canada.

What we believe in

• Solidarity: Our work prioritizes solidarity, respect for Indigenous rights and sovereignty, addresses anti-Black and anti-migrant racism, and upholds equity. These values guide the Network’s approach to building relationships and advocating for transformative climate solutions. The solutions we fight for must leave no one behind and explicitly prioritize communities that experience systemic violent oppression including women, children, racialized communities, 2SLGBTQ+, people with disabilities, and those living in poverty.

• Respect for Indigenous Rights and Sovereignty: We follow the leadership of Indigenous Peoples, respecting Indigenous knowledge systems and science. As a progressive movement, we recognize that Indigenous sovereignty is foundational to the world we are seeking and building. We work to undermine and dismantle settler colonialism and work in right relations with Indigenous Nations.

• Ambition and Abundance: We fight for ambitious and visionary climate policy that is grounded in a joyful belief of the world we can build together. CAN-Rac champions transformative solutions that center justice and equity at the scale of the crises we face. Our work is visionary and hopeful, grounded in the world that we want to build, not just what we are fighting against. The solutions we fight for are grounded in collective power, and boldness.
  

• Global Responsibility: Canada plays an outsized role in the climate crisis, which must be accounted for, and therefore international solidarity must be a guiding theme within CAN-Rac’s work. Solidarity with communities, particularly in the Global South, on the frontlines of climate disaster must be a core value. As a network based in the Global North, we know that the Global South is disproportionately affected by climate change while having contributed very little to causing it. We are committed to acting in allyship, solidarity and coalition with advocates based in the Global South within the global Climate Action Network and beyond.
  

• Anti-Racism: We are a community and movement which draws strength from diversity, works to deeply understand the harms the environmental movement has historically perpetrated, and works to ensure that the advocacy we carry out is actively anti-racist and in support of Black, Brown and migrant liberation.

• Mass Mobilization and Movement Building: While all sites of engagement matter, the climate crisis is occurring at a scale and speed that can only be tackled proportionally by governments and strong institutions. We deeply believe in the power of people when we are united together in demanding positive, impactful change. Democracy does not only take place at the polls; CAN-Rac contributes to movement building by supporting the education, mobilization and organizing of everyday people living and working in what is currently called Canada.

How we work

• With Flexibility, Through Learning, and Staying Accountable: No one is dispensable in our movement, which is stronger when it is welcoming, inclusive and geared towards the learning of all, including those who have less experience in social justice and organizing spaces.  Our convening spaces foster accountability, reflection and ongoing learning. There are a broad range of perspectives and approaches in the Network, and these are balanced with transparency and accountability, especially when navigating internal disagreements and differing perspectives.

• By Utilizing Evidence-Based Decision-Making and Respect for Indigenous Knowledge: Our policy and action recommendations are informed not only by what is considered “scientific research,” but by Indigenous knowledge systems, always taking into consideration the gaps in understanding begotten by strict adherence to only one epistemology.

• Through Relationships, Partnership and Collaboration: Centering relationships is a cornerstone of CAN-Rac, and working across social movements makes our work stronger, and ensures that we are fighting for a world where no one is left behind.  We prioritize an approach that “moves at the speed of trust,” reflecting deep reciprocity in all interactions. This relational approach requires patience, empathy, and the recognition of frontline leadership. When possible, we provide direct support, including the redistribution of resources to support frontline communities, ensuring they can tell their stories and lead climate action efforts as they see fit.

Our Green Lines for Policy

The following “green lines” are meant to provide strategic direction as CAN-Rac develops an evolving, living set of policy statements to fully express the solutions we support. These green lines are not meant to substitute policy but to be the foundation on which CAN-Rac’s policy positions are built. This is in service of CAN-Rac developing shifting political and policy agendas that can adapt to our political context, while being grounded in a clear political mandate from the Network.

• Canada’s Fair Share of the Global Effort to limit warming to 1.5°C: Those most responsible for the climate crisis, including Canada, must be held accountable. This includes acknowledging ecological debt and the need for reparations, particularly for communities in the Global South, and frontline communities within Canada. To contribute its fair share of the global effort, Canada’s emission reductions must be among the steepest and fastest among the global community. Additionally, Canada must deeply engage in international mitigation cooperation and provide substantial climate finance to support and enable deep mitigation in developing countries.

• Mitigation, Adaptation, Loss and Damage, and Finance as Complementary Pillars of Climate Ambition: Mitigation and adaptation serve the common goal of protecting life from the adverse impacts of climate change. Acting now to reduce emissions will prevent increased climate risks and the related adaptation and loss and damage needs; yet we are at a stage in the climate crisis where we can no longer afford the luxury of choice between acting on only one of these fronts. CAN-Rac’s approach tackles all, and demands not only adequate, but ambitious climate finance to help deliver these actions.

• A Just Transition away from Fossil Fuels: The science is clear that continued exploitation of oil, coal and gas is incompatible with a liveable planet. Our advocacy work aims to ultimately phase out the consumption and production of fossil fuel products through a just transition, on a timeline consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C with minimal overshoot.

• Systemic Change over Incrementalism: The climate crisis requires governments to take their responsibility to enact systemic change at the speed and scale required. CAN-Rac’s policy advocacy emphasizes responding to the climate emergency with action that is proportionate to the crisis. We believe that the role of civil society is to build collective power to make this happen, including but not restricted to the confines of colonial governments and their suites of policy and regulation, as well as through grassroots movements, community creation, and by harnessing our compassion to build the world we want on our own terms.

• Fighting the Biodiversity Crisis: We advocate for the restoration and conservation of natural ecosystems and acknowledge the interconnectedness of the biodiversity and climate crises. We champion initiatives that prioritize the protection and restoration of important ecosystems and landscapes, such as forests, grasslands, peatlands, wetlands and aquatic ecosystems, as well as water cycles, rivers, glaciers, and other vital water sources for agriculture and biodiversity.

• Combatting Greenwashing and Ensuring Corporate Accountability: We stand in direct opposition to disinformation, greenwashing and false solutions, and aim to highlight true climate solutions, while pointing directly to the systemic factors contributing to the crisis. The “polluter pays” principle is a guiding principle for our work.

• Climate Action to Better our Lives: We advocate for climate policies that benefit all life, and create livable, accessible, and communal spaces. We prioritize public transit, affordable housing, transportation, and telecommunications and sustainable food systems to build resilience.

• A Fair and Just Economy: We recognize that the currently dominant neoliberal and extractivist economic model, including through promotion of privatization, corporate trade deals, austerity, etc., causes many adverse effects and profound harms to people and Earth’s life-supporting systems, including by acting as a main driver of the climate crisis. CAN-Rac advocates for a Just Transition to a care-based economy, ensuring equitable wealth distribution, affordability, and social security measures. We recognize that most of the climate crisis is caused by a relatively small number of people. The ultra-rich continue to disproportionately benefit from the climate crisis. We reject the notion that an economy that works for all cannot be in harmony with a climate-safe future. Our policy work is conceived with and supports workers across industries and sectors.

• An End to Militarism and War: War has played, and continues to play, an outsized role in worsening the climate crisis. Climate justice can only be achieved through the championing of human rights, and the dismantlement of militarism and imperialism. Until the conventions and institutions to protect the most fundamental human rights are respected, international cooperation on tackling the climate crisis will remain fragile, incomplete, and incoherent.