This article was published by The Energy Mix on April 8, 2024.
By Mitchell Beer
Three Canadian senators, MPs from four of the five parties in the House of Commons, and a handful of national and international dignitaries joined forces last week in a video to celebrate the second anniversary of the Climate-Aligned Finance Act (CAFA) and urge Parliament to pass it now.
The legislation, Bill S-243, was introduced by Sen. Rosa Galvez (ISG-Quebec) on March 25, 2022, and finally received an initial hearing before the Senate Standing Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy (BANC) last November. Since then, it’s been up to a steering group composed of senators from each recognized grouping in the Senate to decide how much further study the bill will receive and when.
A spokesperson for committee chair Sen. Pamela Wallin (CSG-Saskatchewan) explained in late March that the committee’s priority is to study government legislation, and that’s what it’s been doing since Parliament resumed in February. The spokesperson did not respond to an email asking when the steering committee next meets, when it will schedule the hearings, and whether it intends to take up the bill in time for it to receive full consideration in the current Parliament.
Now, in a 3½-minute video assembled by Environmental Defence Canada, a lineup of supporters is urging the committee to pick up the pace.
Sens. Julie Miville-Dechêne (ISG-Quebec) and Kim Pate (ISG-Ontario) joined Galvez to support the bill, with Miville-Dechêne noting that it enjoys strong support in Parliament Pate saying the bill “would hold corporate directors to account for their climate action.”
From the House of Commons, Liberal MPs Ryan Turnbull and John Aldag, New Democrats Laurel Collins and Alexandre Boulerice, Green Party leader Elizabeth May, and Bloc Québécois MP Monique Pauzé put up a multi-partisan call to get S-243 past the finish line.
“CAFA is an ambitious piece of legislation which can help align Canada’s financial system with our climate goals,” said Turnbull, who introduced his own House of Commons motion last May urging new climate rules for financial institutions.
“We are lagging behind 40 other countries who already have this kind of legislation,” Collins said. May cited climate finance as “a critical piece of every country’s climate action.”
“Canadian financial institutions can’t stand apart,” Pauzé added. “They have to play their part in the fight against climate change.”
Allison Herren Lee, former commissioner and acting chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), wished CAFA a happy anniversary. Eric Usher, secretary-general of the UN Environment Program Finance Initiative, urged Canada to “press ahead” on climate-aligned finance with the support of the financial community. Heather Buchanan, CEO and co-founder of UK-based Bankers for Net-Zero, stressed the “enabling policy environment” that banks, pension funds, and insurance companies need to align their practices with climate targets.
Éric St-Pierre, executive director of the Trottier Family Foundation, pointed to the five petitions of public support for CAFA that have landed in the House of Commons, and Geneviève Morin, CEO of Montreal’s Fondaction, called for a financial sector that is “more equitable, more inclusive, greener, and more efficient”. Tim Gray, executive director of Environmental Defence Canada, cited the bill’s “groundbreaking, cross-party backing,” along with “hundreds of endorsers from academics, civil society groups, and climate experts from across the country and internationally.”
“It’s urgent that our legislators debate ambitious ideas and innovative solutions,” on climate-aligned finance, agreed Jonathan Fowlie, chief external relations officer at Vancity.
“The climate emergency is no longer a distant threat,” warned Seth Klein, team lead at the Climate Emergency Unit. “It is here and now, and the financial sector is missing in action.”
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