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Ottawa (November 9, 2022) - As discussions continue at the 27th UN Climate Conference of the Parties (COP) in Egypt, to be followed by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity meeting (“Nature COP”) in Montreal in December, the Green Budget Coalition today released a comprehensive set of fiscal recommendations for how the federal government can simultaneously address the related crises of climate change and nature loss in Canada, while strengthening Canada’s economy and improving affordability and quality of life for Canadians.
“We’re highlighting the most effective and urgent federal investment opportunities for climate, nature, and environmental justice,” said Theresa McClenaghan, Green Budget Coalition Co-Chair and Executive Director and Counsel for the Canadian Environmental Law Association, in releasing the Coalition’s Recommendations for Budget 2023. “Budget 2022 noted that $125-140 billion needs to be invested annually in climate action to attain net-zero emissions by 2050. Last week’s Fall Economic Statement included some beneficial measures, but much more is needed.”
“The COPs are prime opportunities for the government to announce such new investments, to demonstrate global leadership and to inspire further action by our international partners,” said Gauri Sreenivasan, Green Budget Coalition Co-Chair and Director of Policy and Campaigns, Nature Canada. “As Hurricane Fiona and other recent floods and fires have illustrated, we must accelerate action to stem climate change and species collapse.”
The Green Budget Coalition’s five feature recommendations will create jobs, enhance affordability, and support Indigenous leadership and well-being:
- Advancing a zero-emissions electricity grid based on renewables, including generation, transmission, and demand side programs ($21 billion over five years);
- Renovation wave: a plan for jobs and climate - Upgrading residential energy efficiency and comfort (with provinces: $10-15 billion per year for ten years);
- Delivering on Canada's land and ocean protection commitments, including Indigenous-led conservation and permanent funding ($18 billion over eight years);
- Advancing sustainable agriculture - Helping producers and Canada be leaders in sustainable and innovative agriculture ($3.5 billion over five years); and
- Building institutional capacity to ensure environmental justice - Establishing an Office of Environmental Justice ($130 million over five years).
The Green Budget Coalition also recommends strengthening carbon pricing, reducing climate- and nature- damaging subsidies, and funding implementation of the forthcoming National Adaptation Strategy, as well as further investments in municipal climate action, transportation, nature restoration, freshwater, fisheries management, action on toxics, and other important environmental issues.
Twenty-one of Canada’s largest environmental and conservation organizations form the Green Budget Coalition. Together, these groups have more than a million members and supporters, and decades of experience solving Canada’s biggest environmental challenges.
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About the Green Budget Coalition:
The Green Budget Coalition, founded in 1999, brings together 21 leading Canadian environmental and conservation organizations to present an analysis of the most pressing issues regarding environmental sustainability in Canada and to make recommendations to the federal government regarding strategic fiscal and budgetary opportunities.
The Green Budget Coalition’s members are:
ALUS Canada, Canadian Environmental Law Association, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Canadian Wildlife Federation, David Suzuki Foundation, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Ecojustice Canada, Ecology Action Centre, Équiterre, Friends of the Earth Canada, Greenpeace Canada, International Conservation Fund of Canada, International Institute for Sustainable Development, Nature Canada, Nature Conservancy of Canada, Nature United, Pembina Institute, Seed Change Canada, West Coast Environmental Law Association, Wildlife Habitat Canada, and WWF-Canada.
For more information, please see the detailed Recommendations for Budget 2023.
or contact:
Gauri Sreenivasan, Co-Chair, Green Budget Coalition; and Director of Policy and Campaigns, Nature Canada, 613-852-0983, gsreenivasan@naturecanada.ca
Andrew Van Iterson, Manager, Green Budget Coalition; 613-296-3263, avaniterson@naturecanada.ca
