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Table of contents
- 1. The impact of Trump 2.0 on environmental policy throughout Canada and the world
- 2. Changes in transportation electrification: with subsidies on the way out, what’s next?
- 3. More containers will be eligible for deposit/refund
- 4. Canada reaches its resources limit for the year
- 5. Canadian federal election
- 6. Act respecting the preservation of agricultural land and agricultural activities
- 7. Is a climate adaptation strategy coming soon to Quebec?
- 8. Consumers will be able to file greenwashing complaints
- 9. Finally: an easier way to repair our objects
- 10. Will mayors become greener? Municipal elections
Regarding the fight against climate change, 2025 is shaping up to be a turning point. With the impacts of this crisis being increasingly felt, a number of issues will demand our attention and action, chief among them elections, agriculture and transportation.
What will be the key moments and trends we should be looking at this year?
1. The impact of Trump 2.0 on environmental policy throughout Canada and the world: January 20
Donald Trump’s re-election as President of the United States is raising serious environmental concerns, for both the US and Canada – not to mention the entire planet. Trump wasted no time announcing his country’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and rolling back certain environmental regulations in order to revive the oil and mining industry.
America’s abandonment of its climate leadership will certainly weaken global efforts to fight climate change. Trump’s arrival is already jeopardizing climate change policy advances and could dampen politicians’ willingness to develop more ambitious policies.
To avoid setbacks here at home, organizations like Équiterre are busy, via the coalition Vire au Vert, motivating the population to vote for candidates who care about the environment.
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2. Changes in transportation electrification: with subsidies on the way out, what’s next? February 1
On the heels of the Quebec government announcing last year it would phase out its Roulez Vert financial assistance program, it is now Ottawa’s turn to pause its own subsidies. Would-be EV buyers are now worried about how much they will have to spend on a new vehicle.
In Équiterre’s opinion, it is up to the automobile industry to lower its EV prices – something that is entirely within its capacity. In fact, several manufacturers have begun doing precisely that. We feel strongly that it is not up to the population or governments to always have to pick up the tab for the impact of ever-larger, ever-costlier vehicles.
The provincial government justified suspending its subsidy program by saying it intends to fund other initiatives to lower GHG emissions in the transportation sector. But it has yet to set out a clear vision in this area.
We are lobbying the government to reinvest the Roulez Vert money in public transit – an indispensable tool for a healthier environment and society.
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3. More containers will be eligible for deposit/refund: March 1
Effective March 1st, the deposit/refund program will finally apply to plastic bottles sized between 100 ml and 2 litres, such as water bottles (assuming there are no additional delays!).
Glass and cardboard containers will have to wait until March 2027, unfortunately, a delay that will result in the disposal of 150 million glass bottles!
There is also a pause on opening new container return centres. The government is currently leading an investigation into the AQRCB, the organization managing the deposit/return system, to determine the cause of its implementation delays. Quebecers are more than ready for a well-oiled deposit/return system.
We will continue pressing the government for a speedier rollout of this system – a solution to the waste crisis we are currently experiencing.
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4. Canada reaches its resources limit for the year: March 26
March 26 will be Canada's Overshoot Day for the year, meaning that we will have already consumed all the renewable natural resources that the Earth can regenerate in a single year.
For the world as a whole, Overshoot Day will occur near the end of July, several months later than for Canada.
We have the sad distinction of being among the five countries with the highest per capita resource consumption. We would need nearly five planets to meet the needs of the population if everyone consumed like the Canadian population. How did we get here? Our economic system induces us to always consume more, to waste more and to throw out more and more.
The world's Overshoot Day arrives much earlier every year, going from December 7 in 1990, to November 1 in 2000 to August 1 in 2024, illustrating the extent of the ever-growing waste crisis.
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5. Canadian federal election: spring
The federal election, tentatively scheduled for October 20, will no doubt be called earlier, most likely in the spring.
This election will be crucial for Canada’s future and for the environmental struggle.
According to a recent Léger survey, 70% of Canadians – and 83% of Quebecers – want the next federal government to do more to combat climate change, to adapt our communities and farmland and to protect biodiversity. Regardless of which party wins the election, the message from the public is clear: Canada must act, and quickly, to address environmental challenges and build a sustainable future.
This is even more visible here in Quebec, where the political agenda advanced by certain parties could threaten what we have accomplished in this province. That is why we, along with our Vire au vert partners, have called on the federal political parties to commit to respecting our environmental values as set out in the Quebec Environmental Consensus. Équiterre and its partners are working to centre the environment in the upcoming election while countering the disinformation on climate solutions that discourages action and polarizes the population.
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6. Act respecting the preservation of agricultural land and agricultural activities: spring.
Things are hopping these days with one of the major issues we’ve been working on for several years, an issue that is only getting worse in Quebec: the loss of our agricultural lands. Bill 86, currently at the study stage, seeks to improve the way we protect our land and, by extension, our food security and autonomy.
In the past 25 years, Quebec has lost over 61,000 hectares of farmland due to industrial development, urban sprawl and real estate speculation, making this bill indispensable in guaranteeing our food supply.
In addition to working closer with Quebec farmers, Équiterre and its Alliance SaluTERRE partners took part in the consultations for the bill and urged the government to create an independent agricultural land observatory and set a legal limit for acquiring agricultural land with a view to countering concentration and speculation. These land protection mechanisms are essential if the bill is to be effective.
It should be adopted in the coming weeks. We will definitely keep you posted.
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7. Is a climate adaptation strategy coming soon to Quebec? Spring
It has been five years that Quebec has been without a national climate change adaptation strategy. At a time when the consequences of the climate crisis are being felt like never before in Quebec, the government must prioritize adoption this year of a new climate change adaptation strategy aimed at protecting and adapting our living environments in the face of the impacts of the climate crisis.
This new strategy will be essential in preparing the province to address the challenges posed by climate change and in minimizing their costs and consequences, at a time when Quebec is being hit increasingly hard by climate change, be it in the form of forest fires or heat waves.
What concrete measures can we expect this strategy to contain? Creating green spaces and developing infrastructures capable of mitigating heat waves and managing rainwater; managing forest fire risks more effectively; or putting in place new agricultural practices to better address the new climate conditions.
Without a rudder and clear objectives, our health, security and communities will be in jeopardy.
Équiterre remains active on this front. In fact, we hosted a panel discussion on adaptation at COP29 in 2024.
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8. Consumers will be able to file greenwashing complaints: June
In June 2024, Canada amended the Competition Act to require businesses that promote the environmental benefits of its products or activities to be able to substantiate these claims. Good news: starting in June of this year, consumers will be able to file a greenwashing complaint directly with the Competition Tribunal.
Flagrant cases of greenwashing are increasingly common. In a recent example, the Pathways Alliance (a consortium of Canada’s leading oil sands producers) falsely framed its oil producing activities as being environmentally responsible. Once the Act’s amendments had taken force, the consortium scrubbed its website of all claims that the sector was on the path to net zero.
Businesses failing to meet these new requirements will be liable to stiff sanctions – up to 3% of their international sales.
In recent years, more and more businesses have taken to this practice, making claims they know to be false in order to protect their economic interests. This makes it imperative to curtail disinformation and greenwashing so as to prevent misrepresentations from circulating freely and from weakening climate action.
Équiterre has been working for several years to counter this scourge by helping the public to understand the complexities of disinformation and to inform themselves better. In June 2024 we filed a complaint against Toyota Canada for misrepresenting and omitting information on its environmental footprint in a number of its advertisements, and we plan on filing a greenwashing complaint against Énergir in June.
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9. Finally: an easier way to repair our objects: October
In October 2025, Quebec will introduce several measures to make product repair more accessible. This is an issue we have worked on for a number of years.
It will be easier now to repair our objects, which is excellent news when one considers that products break down on average two to three years after purchase.
What will change once these measures are in place? Merchants and manufacturers will have to make replacement parts available, as well as the services necessary for product maintenance and repair. Parts will need to be replaceable with tools currently available to the general public.
Using manufacturing methods that make maintenance or repair more difficult may also be prohibited.
Manufacturers and merchants that fail to comply with these new rules could be liable to penalties of up to 5% of their annual sales.
Alongside our work on repairability, we are pushing the governments to adopt a product durability index for such goods as electronics devices and household appliances to inform consumers about product reliability before they decide to buy. The index is already in use in France!
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10. Will mayors become greener? Municipal elections on November 2
The federal election is not the only important vote this year. In addition, municipal elections are being held in Quebec.
The municipalities play a crucial role in implementing measures to combat the climate crisis. All politics is local, as they say, and the municipalities are keenly aware of the needs of their territory and its inhabitants. What’s more, they have the power to act directly on such questions as land development, infrastructures and natural resources management.
In coalition with Quebec’s leading environmental organizations, we will launch a campaign to encourage candidates to undertake ambitious actions to protect the environment.
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