Canada continues to pretend it’s better than it really is

It was surprising to see Lululemon being investigated for greenwashing by the federal Competition Bureau. The athletic clothing superpower is accused of making unfounded climate change claims. After announcing its “Be Planet” marketing campaign, which plays up the company’s sustainability initiatives, Lululemon doubled its greenhouse gas emissions. Hence, Canada’s National Observer’s headline, “What’s the difference between greenwashing and lying?”

That’s a really good question. It’s lucky Canada isn’t a corporation or the Competition Bureau would have to investigate a series of our national governments. The Canadian government has been making similar overblown promises about reducing emissions for decades. For instance, under the Kyoto Protocol signed by Jean Chrétien we were supposed to reduce emissions by six per cent by 2012 relative to 1990. Instead, we increased them 24 per cent by 2008.

Many countries did reduce emissions compared to the 1990 Kyoto benchmark. Take, for example, the entire EU, which reduced beyond its target, cutting emissions by eight per cent by 2012. But here in Canada, Stephen Harper, who once called the Kyoto Protocol a "socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations,” took us out of the protocol in 2011. Canada was the only country to leave.

Then, Harper signed on to the Copenhagen Accord with a promise to reduce emissions 17 per cent by 2020 from a 2005 baseline. In 2015, the Harper government even proposed a 30 per cent reduction by 2030 from the 2005 baseline. But his government’s plans to actually meet targets were assessed as non-existent. That assessment was accurate. We ended up increasing emissions by five per cent as of 2019.

So, then came the Justin Trudeau years. In response to the global agreement in Paris in late 2015, Canada committed to a 30 per cent reduction by 2030 from the 2005 benchmark. That target was the same one set by Harper that many of us thought he had no intention of meeting. But the Trudeau government was different, right?

Our prime minister even upped the target to a 40 per cent reduction by 2030. Was this a real belief in Canada’s ability to make huge changes or a cynical belief we weren’t going to make it anyway, so why not go big? To get an idea of the answer to that question, let’s look at the 2022 Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) report the federal government just submitted to the United Nations.

Our national emissions in 2005 were 761 megatonnes (Mt). In 2022, we show an actual reduction of 54 Mt, or seven per cent, compared to 2005. So, finally things are happening, right? Well, kind of. That was a pandemic year. Remember the Omicron wave was cresting early in the year and the convoy was ensconced in downtown Ottawa. Things didn’t get anywhere close to normal until later in the year.

So, let’s examine the area that showed the most significant reduction relative to the 2005 benchmark. That is power generation (-67 Mt). Our Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault highlighted this sector when announcing the national results. Mostly, what drove this big change was getting Ontario and Alberta off coal. In terms of GHGs associated with power generation, Ontario’s contribution to the reductions through 2022 relative to 2005 was -25 and Alberta’s was -27. Impressive.

But that gain was a one-time event; you can only get off coal once. After Ontario got off coal completely in 2014, it was showing a total emissions reduction of 19 per cent due to all the changes. That sounds like we were on a roll, well on the way to Ontario contributing to the national target of 30 per cent reduction by 2030.

But, in fact, that was virtually the end of Ontario’s improvements. From 2015 to 2022, Ontario has accomplished a mere three per cent additional reduction and even that appears to be a pandemic effect that won’t last. Since Ontario got off coal in 2014, nothing major has happened to reduce emissions further.

If we look at Alberta's emissions, we see something even worse. In 2022, Alberta showed an overall increase relative to 2005 (19 Mt), even though it ditched coal and was still feeling the pandemic-related economic slowdown. Alberta is the largest GHG emitter in the country and is still showing an increase relative to 2005. The only good news is that it could have been worse.

The increases are happening under a government that says it really believes in climate action. But it’s hard to see how things will improve much more between now and 2030. You have to feel for Guilbeault standing up there trying to pretend these numbers are good news. But he comes from a long line of environment ministers who have had to do that.

Canada often talks a good game on climate change action but never puts the puck in the net, while often scoring on the other end instead. Would we call that greenwashing or lying? Is there really any difference?