441-02495 (Environment)

Whereas:

• Climate change is harming communities across Canada through rising temperatures, extreme weather events and rising costs;
• 80% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions globally are caused by burning fossil fuel;
• The IPCC and International Energy Agency have both shown that fossil fuel expansion is incompatible with keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees, in line with the Paris Agreement;
• The IPCC ranks carbon capture used in fossil fuels as the most expensive and least effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
• Canada's banks are some of the world's biggest funders of fossil fuels;
• Canada has $100 billion of fossil-fuel related assets at risk of becoming stranded by 2036; and
• In order to reach a net-zero energy system, Canada needs to finance clean energy at four times the rate of fossil fuels, but currently banks finance fossil fuels at almost four times the rate of clean energy.

We, the undersigned residents of Canada call upon the House of Commons to ensure a taxonomy of sustainable finance in Canada:

1. Exclude all fossil fuel related projects, including CCUS for oil and gas;

2. Be credibly aligned with the Paris Agreement and keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees;

3. Be developed in consultation with independent climate expertise;

4. Only include projects which respect the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of impacted Indigenous communities and the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), as well as advancing sustainable labour practices and a just transition;

5. Require eligible projects or companies to have a science-based and credible climate transition plan; and

6. Link to other regulations, such as fund naming and securities regulations, to ensure the guidance from the Taxonomy can be enforced and is effective at mitigating greenwashing.