The Canada Green Bond Framework
NEEDS A REWORK
Minister of Environment and Climate Change turns his back on Canada behind closed doors.
Thank you to the 10,544 Canadians who stood up for jobs, clean air, and climate by signing the petition, putting it in the top 3% of petitions presented to the 44th Parliament of Canada.
Background
The Canada Green Bond Framework, crafted in large part by Steven Guilbeault, our famously antinuclear Minister of Environment and Climate Change, has with the stroke of a pen excluded nuclear energy from green financing, lumping it in with "sin stocks” such as guns, gambling, firearms, and tobacco.
Why does it matter? The framework will guide tens of billions of dollars of private and government investment over the coming years.
This is completely out-of-step with modern Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks, such as the EU Green Taxonomy, which after careful deliberation by 27 member nations included nuclear energy.
Nuclear energy has been ESG since before the ESG model was invented. It has the lowest environmental impact of any energy source due to its lack of emissions, high energy density, and small, well-managed waste stream. It provides unparalleled, high quality-employment for 76,000 Canadians within a 96% made-in-Canada supply chain and conforms to the highest regulatory standards.
The exclusion of nuclear energy from the Canada Green Bond Framework was done in a highly unusual manner without public or scientific consultation. It is time that Guilbeault hears from the Canadian people, including the clean air and climate heroes working within Canada’s nuclear sector.
Minister Guilbeault must update the Canada Green Bond Framework, reversing his prejudicial decision to exclude nuclear energy.
Petition e-3912
TO BE READ BEFORE THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
Whereas:
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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its four principle decarbonization pathways, calls for an increase in nuclear power by between 98% and 501% to avoid catastrophic climate impacts;
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Nuclear energy in Ontario achieved the greatest carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction measure in North American history by providing 90% of the ultra-low emissions power to remove coal from the Ontario grid;
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Canadian nuclear energy meets all environmental, social, and governance investment criteria, by producing no air, water or CO2 pollution while safely containing its waste stream, providing high quality intergenerational employment, and meeting the highest regulatory standards;
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Canadian uranium used in nuclear reactors all over the world to produce carbon-free electricity displaces 260 megatonnes of CO2 per year, offsetting one third of Canada’s 730 megatonnes of annual emissions;
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CANDU nuclear energy has a 95% made in Canada supply chain which captures all of the value of any investment within our national economy, supports local communities, and provides over 76,000 well paying jobs;
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The European Union (EU) has, after careful examination and debate, included nuclear energy in their EU sustainable finance taxonomy;
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The Canada Green Bond Framework currently excludes nuclear energy alongside arms manufacturing, tobacco, alcohol, and gambling activities; and
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This exclusion of nuclear energy and its association with “sin stock” activities is an insult to the 76,000 Canadian workers who provide the ultra-reliable carbon-free power we urgently need to meet our climate and electrification goals.
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We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to include nuclear energy within the Canada Green Bond Framework.
Signatures closed. Thank you to over 10,000 Canadians who added their name to this important petition.
