Poilievre will do 'anything to win,' must condemn Alex Jones endorsement: Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is ramping up his attacks on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as he promotes his government's federal budget.
A target for rich countries to provide poor nations with US$100 billion in aid each year to tackle global warming will be missed, dealing a blow to the upcoming UN climate talks in Glasgow.
Senior officials from Britain, Canada and Germany, who had hoped to break a deadlock in negotiations ahead of next week's summit, announced Monday that current data shows the goal won't be reached until 2023 -- three years later than agreed.
"The goal was almost certainly missed in 2020," said Alok Sharma, the U.K. official who will chair the talks in Glasgow.
Failure to fulfil the pledge first made in 2009 and reaffirmed at the 2015 Paris climate talks, had "been a source of deep frustration for developing countries," he added. "I absolutely get this."
But Sharma, who will now have to face the frustration of poor nations over the funding shortfall, pointed to a projected rise in financial aid beyond the agreed threshold in the coming years.
"The plan provides confidence that the $100 billion will be met in 2023, and importantly, it projects that the $100 billion will be exceeded in subsequent years, with up to $117 billion being mobilized in 2025," he said.
Over the 2021-2025 period, $500 million would likely be mobilized in public and private finance, he added.
The report was compiled by Canada's minister of environment and climate change, Jonathan Wilkinson, and Germany's deputy environment minister, Jochen Flasbarth, who drew on data provided by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which tracks international flows of climate finance.
"Not all of our conversations were really (...) polite," Flasbarth told reporters of the talks that had taken place with rich and poor nations in recent weeks.
"There is disappointment and we share this disappointment," he said. "But the result we have now is not bad enough (to allow) not to be constructive in Glasgow."
But Mohamed Adow, a long-time observer of UN climate talks who now heads Nairobi-based environmental think tank Power Shift Africa, said the plan won't satisfy poor nations, who have insisted that the original target must be met.
"The $100 billion of climate finance is not only a lifeline to poor and vulnerable communities on the front line of a climate crisis they did not cause, it's also the bare minimum that rich countries need to do to hold up their end of the bargain at COP26," he said
Adow warned the plan now submitted to the U.K. to take to the COP26 talks in Glasgow should not be considered "mission accomplished."
"Poor nations will not be conned and the leaders of the developed world need to ... get this money on the table if COP26 is going to be a success," he said.
Teresa Anderson, climate policy coordinator at ActionAid International, noted that much of the financial support from rich to poor countries is still made out as loans that those on the frontlines of climate change struggle to repay.
"It is vital that climate finance comes in the form of grants," she said.
Sharma said the upcoming talks would seek to address that issue, as well as the demand from poor countries for half of the funds to be devoted to adapting to climate change. Currently, the overwhelming share is earmarked for measures to reduce emissions.
The Washington-based environmental think tank World Resources Institute has calculated that only a handful of rich countries including France, Japan, Norway, Germany and Sweden are providing a fair share of climate aid.
Based on the size of its economy and greenhouse gas emissions, the United States has fallen far short in recent years, though U.S. President Joe Biden has pledged to double U.S. climate finance contributions to $11.4 billion a year by 2024.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is ramping up his attacks on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as he promotes his government's federal budget.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
New video evidence uncovered by CNN significantly undermines two Pentagon investigations into an ISIS-K suicide attack outside Kabul airport, during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
There are 63 wildfires burning in Alberta's forest protection area as of Wednesday morning and seven mutual aid fires, including one in the Municipal District of Peace.
Arrests have been made after five men were captured on video rampaging through a jewelry store in Toronto, waving weapons and smashing glass display cases.
A Polish pilot proposed to his flight attendant girlfriend during a flight from Warsaw to Krakow, and she said yes.
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
The RCMP says a former SNC-Lavalin executive has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison in connection with a bribery scheme for a bridge repair contract in Montreal.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.