Canada’s reigning monarch, King Charles III, cited this country’s devastating wildfires as a call to climate action as he kicked off the UN COP28 summit in Dubai on Friday.“Canada experienced its most severe wildfire season on record, with 18-and-a-half million hectares of land burned, causing terrible loss of life and property, and of course releasing enormous amounts of greenhouse gases that contribute to dangerous feedback loops to which climate scientists have been altering us for many decades,” he told an audience of about 1,000 of the world’s 70,000 delegates in attendance.Charles, who said he has devoted “a large proportion” of his life “trying to warn of the existential threats facing us over global warming, over climate change and biodiversity loss,” last spoke at the COP21 summit that produced the Paris Accord.In his speech he said: “I pray with all my heart that COP28 will be another turning point.”“I have across the Commonwealth and beyond, countless communities which are unable to withstand repeated shocks whose lives and livelihoods are laid waste by climate change. Surely, real action is required to stem the growing toll of its most vulnerable victims,” he continued.“The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth.”.Charles has long advocated for environmental issues over the years, giving his first speech on the subject shortly after becoming Crown Prince in 1968.The King’s speech aligned with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres who urged governments to pass policies to eliminate fossil fuels, tax carbon and adopt windfall taxes on oil company profits.“So allow me to have a message for fossil fuel company leaders: Your old road is rapidly aging. Do not double-down on an obsolete business model. Lead the transition to renewables using the resources you have available,” Guterres said.“Make no mistake – the road to climate sustainability is also the only viable pathway to economic sustainability of your companies in the future.” .“I said that I wished we would be able to present a framework earlier than we are now but as the Prime Minister has said it will be coming before the end of the year,”Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault on the introduction of an oil and gas emissions cap.Presumably that message was aimed at participants like Alberta Premier Danielle Smith who is leading an Alberta delegation to counter federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s punitive climate change policies.Guilbeault, who was tapped at last year’s event to be a co-facilitator to co-ordinate the first ‘global stocktake’ between world leaders related to implementation and financing of the Paris Accord. Charles said that accounting of progress made to date would be critical to the success of this year’s summit.And in that regard, Guilbeault was holding court over the establishment of a climate “damages” reparation fund to third world countries most affected by environmental disasters. On Thursday, Canada committed $16 million to its coffers.It was not yet clear how a potential confrontation between Smith and Guilbeault would play out on the world stage, after he vowed to introduce an emissions cap at the summit. When pressed on a media availability, Guilbeault refused to say whether he would indeed make an announcement on an emissions cap, other than to deflect the issue to Prime Minister Trudeau who has vowed to introduce it by the end of the year.“I said that I wished we would be able to present a framework earlier than we are now but as the Prime Minister has said it will be coming before the end of the year,” he said in response to a reporter’s question.
Canada’s reigning monarch, King Charles III, cited this country’s devastating wildfires as a call to climate action as he kicked off the UN COP28 summit in Dubai on Friday.“Canada experienced its most severe wildfire season on record, with 18-and-a-half million hectares of land burned, causing terrible loss of life and property, and of course releasing enormous amounts of greenhouse gases that contribute to dangerous feedback loops to which climate scientists have been altering us for many decades,” he told an audience of about 1,000 of the world’s 70,000 delegates in attendance.Charles, who said he has devoted “a large proportion” of his life “trying to warn of the existential threats facing us over global warming, over climate change and biodiversity loss,” last spoke at the COP21 summit that produced the Paris Accord.In his speech he said: “I pray with all my heart that COP28 will be another turning point.”“I have across the Commonwealth and beyond, countless communities which are unable to withstand repeated shocks whose lives and livelihoods are laid waste by climate change. Surely, real action is required to stem the growing toll of its most vulnerable victims,” he continued.“The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth.”.Charles has long advocated for environmental issues over the years, giving his first speech on the subject shortly after becoming Crown Prince in 1968.The King’s speech aligned with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres who urged governments to pass policies to eliminate fossil fuels, tax carbon and adopt windfall taxes on oil company profits.“So allow me to have a message for fossil fuel company leaders: Your old road is rapidly aging. Do not double-down on an obsolete business model. Lead the transition to renewables using the resources you have available,” Guterres said.“Make no mistake – the road to climate sustainability is also the only viable pathway to economic sustainability of your companies in the future.” .“I said that I wished we would be able to present a framework earlier than we are now but as the Prime Minister has said it will be coming before the end of the year,”Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault on the introduction of an oil and gas emissions cap.Presumably that message was aimed at participants like Alberta Premier Danielle Smith who is leading an Alberta delegation to counter federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s punitive climate change policies.Guilbeault, who was tapped at last year’s event to be a co-facilitator to co-ordinate the first ‘global stocktake’ between world leaders related to implementation and financing of the Paris Accord. Charles said that accounting of progress made to date would be critical to the success of this year’s summit.And in that regard, Guilbeault was holding court over the establishment of a climate “damages” reparation fund to third world countries most affected by environmental disasters. On Thursday, Canada committed $16 million to its coffers.It was not yet clear how a potential confrontation between Smith and Guilbeault would play out on the world stage, after he vowed to introduce an emissions cap at the summit. When pressed on a media availability, Guilbeault refused to say whether he would indeed make an announcement on an emissions cap, other than to deflect the issue to Prime Minister Trudeau who has vowed to introduce it by the end of the year.“I said that I wished we would be able to present a framework earlier than we are now but as the Prime Minister has said it will be coming before the end of the year,” he said in response to a reporter’s question.
