COP26: Trudeau says world needs a ‘standard’ for pricing carbon. What might that look like?
Global News
The COP26 summit comes as the world is experiencing dramatic effects from climate change, and as leaders face growing pressure to chart a unified path forward to mitigate harms.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used his platform before world leaders gathered for the COP26 climate summit this week to urge the creation of global standards when it comes to pricing pollution.
Touting the domestic carbon price policy put in place by his Liberal government, Trudeau said the world can no longer act as if climate change does not exist because the devastation wrought on communities, like the town of Lytton, B.C., is only going to keep happening as the world heats up.
“Just as globally we’ve agreed to a minimum corporate tax, we must work together to ensure it’s no longer free to pollute anywhere around the world,” Trudeau said.
“That means establishing a shared minimum standard for pricing pollution.”
On Tuesday, he said there are “many different ways” of pricing pollution in different sectors, and that what is crucial is “to establish a principle of stringency and equity to make sure that everyone is pricing at the same level.”
Putting in a carbon price domestically proved to be a battle, fraught with both political and legal fights that culminated in multiple provinces — led by conservative premiers — challenging the policy before the Supreme Court of Canada, which ultimately upheld the pricing.
But putting one in place globally could be an even tougher fight given the differing approaches being taken in many jurisdictions.
Here’s what you need to know about the ideas being discussed right now.