To Chrystia Freeland: Make Canada a Climate Leader

Responding to Canada’s role during COP28, Fridays For Future Toronto members sent this letter to Canada’s Minister of Finance, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, calling for leadership in tackling the climate crisis.

Peoples Climate Movement (GTA) applauds and supports these demands by F4F.
Fridays for Future Toronto Website

December 15, 2023

Dear Honourable Chrystia Freeland,

We are members of a youth grassroots organization, Fridays for Future Toronto, and we are writing to you today to ask for leadership on the climate crisis.

Delivering a Message at Chrystia Freeland’s Toronto Office

On Sunday (December 10, 2023), we held a mini-rally at your office to draw attention to some of the issues that had been debated at COP28, as many of those discussed impact us, our family and friends, and our future. Our hope is that, as a result, you will introduce stronger legislation to protect all Canadians as the consequences of climate destabilization worsen.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change from the UN has stated that the world needs to cut the emission levels from 2019 by 43% by 2030. This will keep the Earth below 1.5 degrees of warming and avoid tipping points that will bring about irreversible climate catastrophe.

We need Canada to show that it is a leader on the climate front at this critical time by acting on four very important tasks:

1. A stronger emissions cap. We understand that Canada has introduced a framework to cap greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector. While this is a commendable effort, this framework is fraught with loopholes. These loopholes ensure that Canada will not achieve its minimum fair-share target of a 60% emissions reduction of 2005 levels by 2030. We need a stronger emissions cap that will cut back on fossil fuel production, cover emissions from both production and use, and include accountability measures to enforce the cap.
2. An end to fossil fuel subsidies. Billions of dollars must not continue to be poured into a dying industry. Instead, it should be invested into a booming clean energy industry. Otherwise, Canada will be outcompeted globally by other countries who are already heavily investing in the growing clean energy sector.
3. Ensure Canada gives its fair share of contributions to the loss and damage fund from COP28. Currently, Canada has pledged $16 million to the loss and damage fund, yet we need over ten times this amount for the fund by 2030. Wealthier nations such as ours need to step in and take responsibility for the damage and trauma being inflicted by the climate crisis on countries in the Global South, countries which are the least responsible for climate change.
4. Our energy sector must undergo a rapid transformation to 100% renewable energy by 2050. This transition must be fair for all currently employed by (or supporting their communities through) the oil and gas sector, and must uphold Indigenous sovereignty. Reports by the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty show that the world has the potential to provide 100% renewable energy to everyone, leaving no excuse to not begin the transition to clean energy now.

As the youth of the country, the policies you enact today and in the next few years will have immense impacts on how our world will look when we’re older. The world is running out of time, with millions already dying or being displaced by fossil-fuel driven climate disasters. It’s our sincerest hope that your government will think critically about how much attention it pays to the millions of people in Canada and around the globe who are deeply affected by your decisions instead of the interests of the fossil fuel lobby.

Sincerely,
Members of Fridays for Future Toronto