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In the coming days, former central banker Mark Carney is set to be sworn in as Canada’s Prime Minister, after winning the race to replace Justin Trudeau as the leader of the country’s Liberal Party. He will be tasked with leading Canada through a number of pivotal moments—including a trade war with the United States, a cost of living crisis, and a critical moment in the country’s fight against climate change.
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National elections must be called by Oct. 20, but could be triggered sooner by Carney or his opposition. Regardless of whether Carney’s Liberal Party or the Conservatives win, the next few years will be decisive for Canada’s fight against climate change. According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, the country must reduce emissions by at least 40-45% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels to meet its international commitments.
Tapping his banking background, Carney has emerged as a leader in the climate space in recent years, bridging the financial sector and the climate fight.
What is Mark Carney’s Climate Background?
Since his time in the banking world, Carney has worked to bring the private sector into the climate fight towards net-zero emissions, calling the green transition “the greatest commercial opportunity of our time” during a London event in 2020.
He became a U.N. Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance in 2019, and in 2021 launched the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, an initiative aimed at bringing together financial institutions to support the transition to a net-zero economy.
It was his work with the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020 that brought the climate crisis into focus for him. “When I became governor of the Bank of England, which oversees the insurance industry, I saw that the number of extreme weather events had tripled and the cost of those events had gone up five times in a quarter century,” he said in an interview with the United Nations in 2021. “These things really concentrated my mind on climate.”
What Would His Climate Goals Be as Prime Minister?
Carney’s campaign has proposed a number of climate-forward economic initiatives.
To start, Carney has proposed getting rid of Canada’s consumer carbon tax, which places an added fee on consumers using fossil fuels. He claims that it currently places the burden on consumers rather than big polluters. “When I see that something’s not working I will change it,” he said during his victory speech on March 9. “So my government will immediately eliminate the divisive consumer carbon tax on families and farmers and small and medium-sized businesses.”
Instead, he has proposed replacing it with financial incentives that will make environmentally friendly initiatives, like energy efficient appliances or electric cars, more affordable for consumers.
He also supports the enactment of federal permitting reform to speed up approvals of clean energy projects and measures such as improving the Output-Based Pricing System to better reward high emitters that reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Carney also pledges to phase out the use of fossil fuels in federal government buildings by 2030 and expand the country’s electric vehicle charging station infrastructure.
What is Pierre Poilievre’s Climate Stance?
Both Carney and Pierre Poilievre, whose Conservative Party will face off against Carney’s Liberal Party in the upcoming general election expected later this year, say Canada’s carbon tax must go.
Poilievre has made his “Axe the Tax” campaign a pillar of his political career. He blames the carbon tax program for the country’s cost-of-living crisis. Unlike Carney’s proposed green alternative to the tax, however, Poilievre and the Conservative party advocate for the expansion of oil and gas production in Canada.
Poilievre has also opposed major climate initiatives—including a cap on pollution from oil and gas and the Clean Electricity Regulation which mandates a net-zero electricity system across Canada by 2035.
In fact, throughout his 20 years as an MP, he has rarely voted in support of climate initiatives—voting in favor of protecting the planet only 13 times in his career, according to an analysis of his voting record by DeSmog. This includes on measures such as protecting whales and clean drinking water for First Nations. That’s compared to his 400 anti-climate votes over the same period.
