We need to end subsidies to the fossil fuel industry now: David Suzuki

The Earth's atmosphere is a global commons that everyone depends on and no one owns; it is a gift from nature and shared by all life on the planet. It provides air to breathe and creates weather, climate and the seasons. But humanity has become so powerful that we are altering its chemistry. And this impacts every region and all species. 

Nearly two centuries ago, in 1824, Joseph Fourier described how our atmosphere traps heat. The effect, now known as the greenhouse effect, keeps the planet warm and is essential for sustaining life. Svante Arrhenius, who won a Nobel prize in 1903, was the first to suggest that a rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide would raise temperatures on our planet.  

In the decades since, scientists have reported that greenhouse gases are rising because of human activity and that the rapid warming of our planet presents a real danger. They have issued increasingly urgent calls to reduce the threat by cutting greenhouse gas emissions and to protect natural systems like forests, which remove carbon from the atmosphere.  

Canada is at great risk from rising temperatures. We are a northern country, warming at twice the global average and up to four times the average in the Arctic. With the longest marine coastline in the world, Canada is already being pummeled by rising sea levels and storm surges as the world's ice caps melt. Our vaunted terrestrial and marine wildernesses are being destroyed by global warming's impact on plants and animals. Much of our economy is being impacted by its effects on agriculture, fisheries, forestry, tourism, winter sports and Indigenous communities.

For decades, the United Nations has been bringing together representatives from almost every country on earth to deal with the threat of climate change. When they met in Paris for COP21 (the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties) in 2015, the delegation agreed to a goal of limiting global warming to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100, preferably to 1.5 degrees. 

Physics allows us to correlate the carbon in the atmosphere with the warming that results, permitting the calculation of a "carbon budget" for each degree of temperature increase. Seven years after COP21, we have already exhausted much of our global carbon budget for a 1.5 degree increase. 

Although there have been 26 COP meetings to deal with the threat of climate change already, global carbon emissions continue to rise (the recent decline due to the pandemic was only temporary). National priorities and vested interests have overridden the need to address the looming crisis. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed the Paris Agreement in 2016, but according to some estimates, Canada has continued to spend tens of billions in subsidies and other financial support for the fossil fuel industry, supporting the search for more deposits and building infrastructure like pipelines and ports. The International Monetary Fund reports that globally, $5.9 trillion US was spent on subsidies to the fossil fuel industry in 2020 — a mind-boggling rate of $11 million every minute!  

Climate change is created by the physical properties of sunlight and carbon-based molecules; it is not a political football championed by Greens and environmentalists. It is an emergency that demands action, much like our inspiring response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Billions of dollars suddenly appeared and were spent, political parties worked together, and Canadians changed their behaviour in a manner few would have expected.  

The recent election presented an enormous opportunity. Every party took climate change seriously and had a plan to reduce emissions. Now, Steven Guilbeault, a long-time environmental activist who understands the threat of climate change and has actively encouraged governments to respond, is the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.   

We are far beyond preventing climate change, and reducing emissions has to be the highest priority above other economic and political priorities. For the sake of our children and grandchildren's futures, the public has to show its support so the current government can take strong steps toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

But if Canada can't commit to taking all the needed steps right away, starting with a cessation of all subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, then we clearly are not dealing with climate change as the existential crisis that it is.