In an ecologically fragile region of southern Africa, Calgary-based company Reconnaissance Africa Energy is exploring for oil. The project has sparked alarm around the globe, as environmental groups and community leaders warn of possible threats to critical food and water supplies, local livelihoods and endangered wildlife.
Above Ground and two other civil society organizations are asking the TSX Venture Exchange to set the record straight on oil and gas drilling by Canadian company ReconAfrica in the Okavango region of East Africa.
Canada has become the second-largest public financier of fossil fuels in the G20 due to the business carried out by its export bank. New research commissioned by Above Ground and Oil Change International identifies policy and legal reforms needed to reverse the trend and redirect the bank’s resources into low-carbon solutions.
Academics and researchers including Above Ground staff urge the prime minister to abandon plans to bail out oil and gas firms, and instead align Canada’s economic recovery with its climate commitments.
Last month Export Development Canada released its climate change policy. The policy does not commit the agency to reducing the billions of dollars in support it provides the oil and gas sector each year.
Canada has pledged to end inefficient fossil fuel subsidies by 2025. Last year the government launched a review of federal non-tax measures that benefit fossil fuel companies and may qualify as inefficient subsidies. In this letter, we ask when the review will be finalized and whether the full results will be made public.
In this submission to the federal government, we call for reforms to the Export Development Act to prohibit Export Development Canada from supporting fossil fuel companies and projects.
Even as it claims to be working to “tackle climate change,” Canada’s export credit agency continues to provide roughly 10 billion dollars in support to fossil fuel companies each year.
As leaders of the world’s richest countries gather at the G7 summit today, Canada’s prime minister intends to push for a commitment on climate change in the meeting’s final statement. But the government’s slow progress on a 2009 pledge to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies raises questions about Canada’s own commitment to cut emissions.
Above Ground works to ensure that companies based in Canada or supported by the Canadian state respect human rights and the environment worldwide. It is a project of MakeWay, a national charity that builds partnerships and solutions to help nature and communities thrive together.
Above Ground c/o MakeWay
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