Another Year, What Happened?
by Stephanie Ho Lem, Promoting Living Green
A lot has happened in 2025, a lot of negatives and one positive, in my opinion, that we have a new prime minister, Mark Carney.
To recap, I have written 11 monthly articles related to climate change for the View and they are listed as follows:
• January – What is the Emissions Cap and What Effect will the Cap have on Alberta.
• February – Have you Been Greenwashed.
• March – What is the Paris Agreement.
• April – No article
• May – The Paradoxical Role of China
• June – Why Industrial Carbon Pricing is Important
• July – Loss of Mature Trees on Private Land in Crescent Heights
• August – Has the Earth Already Exceeded 1.5 Degrees Celsius of Warming
• September – Establishing the Bee-Friendly Pollinator Garden
• October – Is Nuclear Energy Coming to Alberta
• November – Does Artificial Intelligence (AI) have an Environmental Problem
• December – Another year, what happened?
Canada is an independent sovereign country with vast amounts of natural resources. For years and years, our biggest trading partner has been the US as we share a common border, easily connected by rail, highways, and airlines. The US has a giant economy with the world’s largest military which Canada complacently relies on, and as a result, Canada hasn’t met its NATO obligation of 2% of GDP. Canada is comparable to California in population, as the two have very similar numbers, though Canada is much larger in area, being roughly 25 times bigger. Countries much smaller than Canada in both population and GDP like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Albania have all managed to meet or exceed the 2% target.
Since the newly elected president of the US has created an unstable trading relationship with Canada, Prime Minister Carney’s priority is to increase trading with countries other than the US.
The previous Conservative and recently led Justin Trudeau Liberal government stated that Canada’s stance on defence spending is not a matter of capability, it’s a matter of choice. Unfortunately for Canada, such blatant disregard for Canada’s commitments generated significant animosity among our allies. Prime Minister Carney recognized Canada must meet its NATO obligation of 2% of GDP if Canada is to increase trade among its allies.
Mark Carney has long been recognized as an authority on climate change. When he was the governor of the Bank of England, he introduced climate change to bankers as a threat to international financial stability. When he was appointed UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance in 2019, Carney described climate change as “the world’s greatest existential threat”.
Canada is the 11th largest emitter of CO2 and the second largest emitter on a per capita basis. Canada has a commitment to reach net-zero by 2050. When you receive the December View, Prime Minister Carney will have introduced his budget and thus far, climate has taken a back seat. Will this change? We are anticipating what Canada will announce regarding climate at COP30.
COP30 Climate Summit in Brazil happens November 6 to 21.
Happy holidays to everyone.
Please note that the content provided is for informational purposes.
Sources: Canada.ca-Net 0 Emissions by 2050; UN News-Climate Change likely to breach 1.5degC limit in next 5 years; The Conversations-Mark Carney inaction is at odds with his awareness of climate change existential threat.
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