Tuesday, June 28, 2016

3 Amigos Turning Down the Heat?



Well two of the Three Amigos, Prime Minister Trudeau and Pena Nieto, have already met in Ottawa and the third, President Obama, will join them tomorrow. These leaders of the North American nations will discuss a number of substantive issues, and perhaps the most important is combatting climate change. Here is the Globe and Mail's summary of what will be addressed:

Negotiators have been working on an agreement that would include efforts to harmonize environmental regulations, steps to phase out methane gases and broad commitments to encourage the use of carbon markets. Canada and the United States are pushing Mexico to join their bilateral commitment to reduce methane emissions by 40 to 45 per cent by 2030 – a deal announced when Mr. Trudeau visited Washington in March.

This is a significant proposal and is much more ambitious than anything under discussion in the past. Under Prime Minister Harper there was little will to reduce greenhouse gases or regulate carbon emissions under a common framework.

I do hope we will all pray for a meaningful outcome to these discussions. Honestly, the real work for these accords happens behind the scenes over months and even years. But the public commitment of the leaders of Mexico, the US, and Canada is a big deal.

Thoughts?

1 comment:

Judy said...

I would like to think that this commitment will bear fruit - but history has shown over and over that BIg Money usually gets the final say , even when our planet is at risk ... and most politicians bow to Big Money, in order to stay in office....but we can pray - and speak out - for a change in this area.