Remarks by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Raising our Climate Ambition Session of the Leaders Summit on Climate

Ottawa, Ontario

April 22, 2021

Thank you.

Hello, everyone.

I want to begin by thanking President Biden for hosting this summit.

Mr. President, thank you for your leadership on addressing the climate crisis, and on other shared priorities, from the fight against COVID-19, to building a strong middle class.

I’m encouraged to see so many countries coming together today to fight climate change. It’s the only way to overcome the challenges people face in every part of our world.

That’s why it’s also vital that we all work together to strengthen respect for international law, reaffirm our collective commitment to human rights, and stand up for people who face persecution abroad.

Our collective success depends on finding a better path, not only to a more sustainable future, but to shared peace and prosperity for everyone.

[Our priority continues to be combating COVID-19.

We rely on science to save lives and develop vaccines, but we must also listen to climate science, which tells us that we are facing an existential threat.]

We must take action now. Because there’s no vaccine against a polluted planet.

When Canadians elected us 5 years ago, our emissions were projected to keep rising through 2030.

But with hard work and a solid plan, Canada is now on track to blow past our old target of 30% reduction below 2005 levels.

Last December, we strengthened our climate plan to reduce more emissions, including with a world-leading price on pollution. This week, we made additional investments in the budget and today, Canada is in a position to raise our climate ambition once again.

Our new climate target for 2030 is to reduce our 2005 emission levels by 40 to 45%.

And we will continually strengthen our plan and take even more actions on our journey to net zero by 2050.

[Only bold climate policies lead to bold results.

For example, you can no longer pollute in Canada for free. In 2030, our carbon price will reach $170 per ton.]

Climate ambition and economic ambition go together.

That’s why we’re investing in public transit, clean energy, retrofitting homes, and decarbonizing industry – like steel, cement, and aluminum – to secure our clean industrial advantage.

We’re also banning harmful single-use plastics, protecting 30% of our oceans and land, and planting 2 billion trees.

And we will make it law to respect our new 2030 target and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

That’s our local story. And it can be part of a global success story, too.

In Canada, we’ve worked hard to get to over 80% emissions-free electricity, and we’re not going to stop until we get to 100%.

If major economies in the room were to follow Canada’s lead and adopt a rising price on pollution and commit to phase out coal plants, we would accelerate our global path for a safe, prosperous net-zero future.

[Canada is a country that produces and exports energy, and so I understand this would not be easy. We are all facing different realities. But if all governments and Indigenous peoples and different sectors can all come together and work together, then we should be able to find solutions and create real change.

And that is why we are here today.

Thank you very much.]