OTTAWA – China and Saudi Arabia “must contribute” to international efforts to help poorer countries grappling with the worst effects of climate change: federal Minister of Environment, Steven Guilbeault, said it Wednesday, just a few days before the start of the annual UN climate summit, COP29, which will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, next week. There, countries are expected to negotiate a new international target to raise the trillions of dollars that experts say are needed to mitigate the worst effects of global warming.

Guilbeault told CBC that setting a new target for international climate finance will be one of his priorities when he arrives in Baku, as well as pushing for the world’s second-largest economy to contribute. “China will become, in fact, one of the biggest historic polluters in the coming years” Guilbeault said.

China itself, however, despite being the largest “emitter” in the world, is also a leader in the implementation of clean technologies – solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles – both at home and abroad. Its electric vehicles are also very convenient, among the least expensive in the world, especially compared to the expensive Western electric cars that only the richest can afford. But Canada, as is well known, has placed 100% tariffs on electric cars produced in China, following the example of the USA, to “safeguard North American producers”. These are the paradoxes of politics: China is asked to pollute less and in Canada electric cars are effectively made inaccessible to most people.

But the federal Environment Minister’s attention is not only on China: in fact, the world’s main oil and gas producers are also in Guilbeault’s thoughts. “Countries like Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have a lot of money and contribute a lot to climate change” the minister said. “They should be part of a broader base of donor countries to help those in the South”. Saudi Arabia, according to various estimates, is the eleventh country in the world for emissions and is followed by Canada which is in turn one of the “big polluters”: according to the United Nations, in fact, both countries are among the 20 which, collectively, are responsible for more than 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

In short, one might say: what a pulpit does the sermon come from…

In the pic above: the federal Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, in a photo taken from his Twitter page X – @s_guilbeaultt