'Money talks': Federal environment minister calls on businesses, banks to fight climate change

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says businesses and financial institutions around the world need to do more to fight climate change — and climate finance needs to be on the agenda for the next United Nations climate summit.

Guilbeault spoke about the need to mobilize private international climate capital on Wednesday in Brussels, where he announced that Ottawa is allocating $450 million to the world's largest climate fund — the Green Climate Fund — doubling its previous pledge in 2019.

"We need more money, and we need more money from all sources," said Guilbeault.

It's widely acknowledged that richer countries and international businesses based there have been responsible for the bulk of global carbon emissions.

The $450 million for the Green Climate Fund comes from the $5.3 billion the federal government has earmarked for international climate finance over five years.

The Green Climate Fund, which emerged from the landmark Paris Agreement, helps support developing countries' efforts to transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient economies and protect nature.

"Money talks, so we encourage other contributors, traditional and new, to use this second replenishment of the Green Climate Fund to raise their ambition," Guilbeault said.

He specifically called on the private sector to step up.

"We clearly know that there's not enough public money to meet the challenge of fighting climate change or adapting to climate change, which is where the private sector capital mobilization comes into play," Guilbeault said.

The private sector must be "held accountable" for dragging its heels on climate action in Canada and globally, said Julie Segal, senior manager of climate finance at Environmental Defence, a Canadian-based environmental organization.

Segal said Canadian banks are still investing billions of dollars annually in "climate-damaging activities" like fossil fuel production.

"So they are under-investing, particularly Canadian financial institutions, in climate solutions and over-investing in climate pollution," she said.

If the Canadian government got serious about encouraging private investments in efforts to fight climate change, Segal said, it would introduce rules and regulations for Canada's financial institutions to help shift Canadian money away from high-emitting sectors.

Guilbeault meets Thursday with his ministerial counterparts from China and the European Union in Brussels for the Ministerial Meeting on Climate Action (MoCA).