Please read the following letter jointly written by Elizabeth May, MP for Saanich–Gulf Islands and Leader of the Green Party of Canada, and Mike Morrice, MP for Kitchener Centre, regarding the upcoming consultations on forest carbon accounting:
The Honourable Steven Guilbeault
Minister of Environment and Climate Change
The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
March 14, 2024
Dear Ministers,
We are writing to ask you to ensure that Environment and Climate Change Canada(ECCC) and Natural Resources Canada’s (NRCan) upcoming consultations on forest carbon accounting include a consideration of how Canada reports and counts emissions
associated with wildfires.
The massive wildfires last summer, the worst wildfire season on record, released hundreds of millions of tonnes of carbon that went uncounted in Canada’s GHG emission totals. However, Canada does account for carbon stored by trees that regrow after wildfires. This is an imbalance in reporting that scientists, politicians, environment, health and Indigenous groups and forestry researchers have all said is masking tens of millions of tonnes of logging emissions every year.
In April 2023, the Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development called for an independent and nonpartisan review of Canada’s approach to estimating and reporting forestry emissions. While ECCC and NRCan have announced a public consultation process, this excludes comments about the methods Canada is using to report emissions and removals associated with wildfires.
The consultation process is intended to ensure “comparable, transparent and credible GHG accounting.” The failure to address how Canada estimates and reports these emissions raises questions about the efficacy of this consultation process.
We ask that you make a review of ECCC and NRCan’s approaches to estimating and reporting forestry emissions a priority of the consultation process. This will ensure public confidence in the process and help Canada identify and address these significant rates of GHG emissions.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth May, O.C.
Member of Parliament
Saanich-Gulf Islands
Leader of the Green Party of Canada
Mike Morrice
Member of Parliament
Kitchener Centre