Climate experts question N.L. government's $50K trip to Scotland for COP26

As further details emerge about Newfoundland and Labrador's delegation to the 26th Conference of the Parties climate summit in Scotland, more experts are questioning the provincial government's involvement in the talks.

Records obtained by CBC through an access to information request show the bill for the provincial government's four-day trip to COP26 in November cost taxpayers just under $50,000.

The six-person delegation to Glasgow included Premier Furey and three office staffers, as well as one representative each from the Department of Environment and Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Affairs Secretariat.

The summit's official list of participants shows the province's delegation was the largest of any in Canada, with the exception of Quebec. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Nunavut and the Yukon Territories sat out the meetings completely. 

The list also indicates Furey was the only Canadian premier other than François Legault to attend the meetings.

A separate access to information request revealed the government's plans to attend COP26 were hastily hatched, with flights and hotels being booked just days before the event began.

Furey's attendance had already prompted environmentalist David Suzuki to critique his presence at the summit.

While in Glasgow for COP26, where nearly 200 countries gathered to plan a global transition to net-zero emissions by 2050, Premier Furey, in a phone interview with CBC, touted the benefits of Newfoundland and Labrador's "clean" oil in making that transition.

"No oil is perfectly clean," he said, "but we have some of the cleanest product in the entire world. It's a product that the world needs right now in terms of transition."

Angela Carter, a political science professor at the University of Waterloo and appointee to the province's net-zero advisory council, said it was "painful" to see the premier in Glasgow promoting the benefits of clean oil — something Carter says "doesn't exist."

"He could have done that from here," she said.

Carter said promoting fossil fuels at an event such as COP26 can be seen as a slight to countries like Barbados, which are extra vulnerable to the consequences of climate change.

"If the government was going to promote real climate action, then that would have been worth the investment," she said. 

Carter said the premier would have been better off doing what Alberta premier Jason Kenney did, and sitting out the event completely.