Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said the government is “very supportive” of the concept of creating a new levy on emissions caused by maritime transportation.
As global leaders gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan at COP29 this week to discuss climate change, Guilbeault told reporters that the private sector could help close out the gap in the USD $2 trillion funding shortfall for developing countries as they try to fight climate change.
The environment minister said Canada will spend $160 million to launch a new fund called GAIA to finance projects that aim to reduce emissions in lower-income countries.
According to Guilbeault, the new fund will include direct grants as well as long-term loans with the goal of getting $2 billion from private sources as well as the government.
Among the strategies discussed, Guilbeault suggested creating a carbon taxon shipping emissions.
“We are very supportive of the discussions that are happening at the International Marine Organization to put in place some kind of levy on international marine transportation,” he said on Tuesday.
The idea was championed by director of environmental affairs at the Shipping Federation of Canada Miako Ushio, who said her organization would like to see a global carbon price for the sector.
While no formal policy has been enacted, Guilbeault believes the wheels are in motion.
“The agreement we have to reach here is not necessarily exactly about which mechanism will enable us to achieve the funding goal that we will set for ourselves,” he said.
“We need to agree on what the new amount will be.”
However, news of another carbon levy was met with swift criticism from the Conservative party, which has been adamant that it would remove the existing domestic carbon taxes, if elected.
“Canadians discovered that Justin Trudeau’s radical Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault, wants to create a new global carbon tax on international shipping. This tax money would then be sent abroad to other countries,” reads a statement from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s office.
The statement then called for Guilbeault to testify before a House of Commons Committee on the newly proposed carbon tax “that will make everything more expensive.”
“According to the Association of Canadian Port Authorities, Canada’s ports are responsible for $17 billion of economic output. The marine sector is responsible for 353,760 Canadian jobs.” reads the statement.
“This new tax on maritime transportation would undoubtedly drive investment and business away from our already struggling port system, putting strong union jobs at risk.”
Canada has already pledged to contribute $5 billion to developing countries trying to fight climate change from 2021 to 2026.
However, G20 countries are now being asked to increase their funding, with estimates claiming that USD $2.4 trillion is needed per year by 2030 for “emerging markets and developing countries” transition to clean energy, according to a G20 climate finance report.
“On climate finance,the world must pay up, or humanity will pay the price,” ” said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday.
However, the Conservatives pointed to Canadians’ growing reliance on food banks as an indicator that now is not the time to implement “a tax on shipping” which will ultimately translate to a “tax on the goods that are being shipped.”
“The carbon tax is nothing more than an expensive scam. It has done nothing to reduce emissions, while dramatically increasing the cost of living on the backs of working Canadians,” reads the statement.
The net cost of Trudeau’s current carbon tax has already been weighing heavy on Canadian households and will have cost the country’s economy $30.5 billion per year by 2030, according to the government’s data.
A recent report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer also concluded that the carbon tax rebates promised by the Trudeau government pay out far less than what they cost to Canadian taxpayers, regardless of the province they reside in.
“The carbon tax is nothing more than an expensive scam. It has done nothing to reduce emissions, while dramatically increasing the cost of living on the backs of working Canadians,” reads the statement.
