Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act

Whereas the science clearly shows that human activities are driving unprecedented changes in the Earth’s climate;Whereas climate change poses significant risks to human health and security, to the environment, including biodiversity, and to economic growth;Whereas, Canada has ratified the Paris Agreement, done in Paris on December 12, 2015, which entered into force in 2016, and under that Agreement has committed to set and communicate ambitious national objectives and undertake ambitious national measures for climate change mitigation;Whereas the Paris Agreement seeks to strengthen the global response to climate change and reaffirms the goal of limiting global temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit that increase to 1.5°C;Whereas, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is key to keeping the rise in the global-mean temperature to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and minimizing climate-change related risks;Whereas the Government of Canada is committed to achieving and exceeding the target for 2030 set out in its nationally determined contribution communicated in accordance with the Paris Agreement;Whereas the Government of Canada has both international greenhouse gas emissions reporting obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including the national inventory report, the nationally determined contribution, the biennial report and the biennial transparency report, and domestic reporting obligations under Acts of Parliament, including the annual report under the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act and the Minister of the Environment’s obligations under the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, and it wishes to improve transparency and accountability in respect of greenhouse gas emissions targets by providing additional domestic reporting obligations;Whereas the Government of Canada has committed to developing a plan to set Canada on a path to achieve a prosperous net-zero-emissions future by 2050, supported by public participation and expert advice;Whereas the Government of Canada is committed to advancing the recognition-of-rights approach reflected in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 and in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to strengthening its collaboration with the Indigenous peoples of Canada with respect to measures for mitigating climate change, including by taking Indigenous knowledge into account when carrying out the purposes of this Act;Whereas the Government of Canada recognizes that its plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 should contribute to making Canada’s economy more resilient, inclusive and competitive;Whereas climate change is a global problem that requires immediate and ambitious action by all governments in Canada as well as by industry, non-governmental organizations and individual Canadians;And whereas the Government of Canada recognizes that significant collective and individual actions have already been taken and intends to sustain the momentum of those actions;Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: