Accountable to Who? ICA’s perspective on the Canadian Net Zero Emissions Accountability Act
Bill C-12: ICA’s Eriel Deranger speaking up about how climate policy in Canada cannot work without Indigenous peoples
On June 10, 2021, ICA Executive Director, Eriel Deranger, presented to the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and National Resources. Prior to this presentation, the Standing Senate Committee had failed to include any Indigenous testimony to inform the creation of Bill C-12, the proposed Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act .
This Bill was first introduced in November 2020 and aims to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The Bill recently made a stop at the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources and ICA took the opportunity to drive home the importance of emissions reductions, not just offsets, and to stress the importance of safeguards and inclusion of the rights of Indigenous peoples.
Bill C-12 has now officially passed by the Canadian government on June 29. However, concerns still remain regarding the government's overall climate ambition, dependency on carbon market solutions such as Nature Based Solutions, carbon trading and other offset programs, and the lack of clarity of how this accountability process will uphold and respect Indigenous leadership and UNDRIP.
ICA’s Intervention
While the team at Indigenous Climate Action does not hold faith in these colonial processes, our Executive Director took the opportunity to participate in these hearings for the following reasons:
To draw attention to ICA’s Decolonizing Climate Policy report that highlights Canada’s continues exclusion of Indigneous peoples in the development of climate policy and plans;
call attention to the importance of ensuring there are safeguards for human rights and the rights of Indigenous peoples included in all climate legislation;
and finally that climate plans cannot be reliant on false solutions or other approaches that can viel carbon offsets and markets that further put Indigenous communities at risk.
Read the abstract of Transcripts for Eriel’s Intervention here.
What is Bill C-12?
Bill C-12, An Act respecting transparency and accountability in Canada’s efforts to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. In so-called Canada this means reducing emissions below our 2005 levels, by 40%-45%. In 2005 our carbon emissions sumed to approximately 731 megatonnes. In 2019 our greenhouse gas emission measured at 730 megatonnes, slightly lower than our 2005 levels, but nowhere near where we need to be. To achieve this goal, our annual emissions would need to be around 329 megatonnes.
But what does net-zero really mean?
First off, it does not mean zero-emissions. Net-zero in theory is about reaching a balance between our emissions and reductions: when the amount of carbon we add is no larger than the amount of carbon we remove from the atmosphere. Unfortunately this also means extractive industries can continue to decimate and pollute our lands and our bodies.
“Net-zero framing is reliant on offsets, and can be a sneaky way to keep extracting and exporting fossil fuels” said Eriel Deranger at the Standing Senate Committee in June.
Indigenous communities are often the left the most vulnerable by the consequences of extractive industries. “There needs to be transparency about how this benefits the fossil fuel industry while continuing to harm front-line communities facing climate impacts and extractive projects” Dereanger added.
Current national and international climate plans and policies are becoming increasingly dependent on carbon offset and carbon market mechanisms that do little to reduce emissions while allowing extractive industry to continue business as usual. Using narratives like ‘Nature-Based Solutions’ to cover up false solutions, like carbon offsets, create ways for corporations and governments to buy their way out of actual reduction of emissions.
Many high emitting energy projects, and the governments that sanction them, are violating the rights of Indigenous peoples by denying our Free, Prior and Informed Consent and our right to say no to projects; destroy and contaminate ecosystems and exacerbate the climate crisis; and lead to the degradation of human and cultural health of our communities. Furthermore, carbon offset programs put Indigenous lands and territories at risk of being taken up by corporations as “offsets” and further marginalizes our abilities to freely access our traditional territories while perpetuating the power of corporations and colonial governments. For more information on false solutions check out the 3rd edition of Hoodwinked in the Hothouse.
Indigenous leadership and UNDRIP needs to be included
On-top of the dirty fossil fuels industry getting a free-pass, Indigenous peoples continue to be structurally excluded from climate policy, preventing critical oversight when creating plans for programs like ‘Nature-Based Solutions’ to solve the climate crisis. (See our latest critique Decolonizing Climate Policy in Canada).
“To date, Canada lacks a substantive process to ensure the rights of Indigenous peoples will be respected or upheld in development of Climate plans and policies to achieve net zero, or to ensure that Indigenous knowledge and solutions are utilized in developing and framing these policies and plans.” Eriel Deranger.
The bill must also recognize and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indgenous Peoples (UNDRIP) to the proposed legislation before receiving royal assent. That’s if Canada truly wants a “nation-to-nation” relationship with Indigenous peoples.
ICA’s stance remains the same and Eriel Deranger summed up the major concerns moving forward with Bill C-12:
“Therefore, what we need is an improved and focused consent-based process with Indigenous nations, including adequate resources for community participation, to ensure direct engagement with Indigenous Nations on this bill and other related climate legislation, policies and action plans.”
What next?
ICA hopes to see the concerns as outlined by Eriel Deranger and other Indigenous participants who spoke at the Standing Senate Committee in June, will be added to the proposed piece of legislation. Though it is important to note an amendment to the bill has been made which includes an independent advisory body of Indigenous and climate science expertise but still lacks clear language safeguards that explicitly acknowledge and uplift the role and importance of the inclusion of Indigenous peoples and the rights of Indigenous peoples. Climate policies are limited without Indigenous peoples and Indigenous perspectives. Our communities and grassroots movements are leading the way in advancing a move away from dirty fossil fuels and advocating for more sustainable lives and solutions to the climate crisis rooted in Indigenous values and ways of being.
We must remember that extractive capitalism and colonization are root causes of the climate crisis; and in order for us to solve the problems caused by colonial economics, we must not only look to colonial systems for climate solutions, Indigenous peoples, our knowledges, economies and governance systems have a scope beyond the colonial systems, giving us a better chance for climate solutions that are made for our communities to survive and thrive!
