CCL Canada Education Call with Senator Rosa Galvez, Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Posted on March 12, 2023 in Education, Event

CCL Canada Education Call
with Senator Rosa Galvez
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Regarding S-243: The Climate-Aligned Finance Act

Watch our March education call with Senator Rosa Galvez and learn how the Climate-Aligned Finance Act will redirect financial flows toward a thriving and equitable planet and how you can help build the political will for the enactment of this policy.

Why we support CAFA

Public money (tax dollars) cannot finance the transition to an equitable and thriving planet alone – it is an astronomical cost. The cost to attain the UN Paris Agreement Goals and the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 is estimated to be at least 3 trillion dollars a year globally.

The private sector must step in. We need government policies that will redirect financial flows away from fossil fuels in the private sector. Canada’s carbon pricing is one of those policies. We need to protect and improve it while at the same time supporting other policies that will redirect financial flows toward a thriving and equitable planet. Any policy that we support has to be evidence-based, reduce a significant amount of greenhouse gas pollution, not burden the taxpayer and have momentum.

In April 2021, New Zealand introduced a law that will force financial firms to assess not only their own investments but also to evaluate the companies to which they are lending money in terms of their environmental impact. It was passed into law in October 2021.

Another thing we do is stand behind the climate champions in Parliament. Thus, we are now getting behind Senator Rosa Galvez’s Private Member’s Bill S-243 The Climate-Aligned Finance Act. Akin to the New Zealand law, Bill S-243 would require financial institutions and Crown corporations to:

develop action plans and targets;
establish a duty of alignment with climate commitments for directors and officers of entities;
require the appointment of a person with climate expertise to certain boards of directors;
establish a capital adequacy requirement proportionate to the climate risks generated by financial institutions.

CAFA Resources

Copy of the slide show

Letter with over 80 organizations endorsed CAFA (March 2022) Environmental Defence

Official Documents

Text of Bill S-243
An Act to enact the Climate-Aligned Finance Act and to make related amendments to other Acts.

CAFA Legislative Overview
Summary of the rationale and key features of the Climate-Aligned Finance Act. Updated May 2022 (Previous version).

Briefings and Supporting Documents

White Paper: Aligning Canadian Finance with Climate Commitments
Comprehensive overview of the intersection between climate and finance in Canada and international best practices along with a set of recommendations for aligning Canada’s financial sector with climate commitments.

What We Heard: Consultations on Aligning Canadian Finance with Climate Commitments
Synthesis of the expert feedback provided by over 40 experts during several consultation sessions held between December 2021 and January 2022.

Organizations List: Who does CAFA apply to?
Table of organizations covered by CAFA with examples for each category.

CAFA Overview Presentation
A presentation explaining the rationale behind and key features of the Climate-Aligned Finance Act.

Resources from Senator Galvez’s website

CAFA Parliamentary Paper Petitions

Climate Aligned Finance Act Petition – in support of Senator Rosa Galvez’s bill.
CAFA English
CAFA Francais

Government resources:
The Path of Paper Petition
Paper Petitions – Guide and Terms of Use

For Further Information
Clerk of Petitions
Room 314-C, West Block
House of Commons
Tel: 613-992-9511
Fax: 613-947-7626
Email PMB-AED@parl.gc.ca

Instructions:

Have people sign the petition at outreach events and/or carry a copy of it and ask friends and acquaintances to sign it.
Once you have obtained 30 signatures, call your MP’s office
Identify yourself as a constituent of his/her riding
Ask if your MP if he/she would be willing to read our Parliamentary Petition on climate change in its entirety (excluding the signatories) in the House of Commons
Print the petition on legal (8.5 x 14) or letter-size (8.5 x 11) paper.
Make sure there are three lines for signatures on the first page.
Make sure there is a line at the top of every signature page thereafter indicating that it is a parliamentary petition and its topic.
Get at least 25 signatures on the petition – follow the instructions closely. We recommend getting 30 just to be safe.
Once completed, copy it for your files if you wish, then bring the original file to your MP’s office to be read in Parliament.

Hand deliver or send the original copy of the petition to:

YOUR MP’S NAME
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

No stamp is required for Parliament in Ottawa.

If your MP will not read the petition, we can send it to other MPs who will. Follow up by asking when it will be read in Parliament, how it was received and a big thank you via snail mail, email and social media. Please inform us in your monthly Citizens’ Climate Lobby field report if your petition has been read aloud in the House of Commons. It is considered to be outreach. By informing the national office we can thank them on Twitter and Facebook.

Cabinet Ministers are not permitted to read petitions in the House of Commons as it would constitute a “conflict of interest”. Thus, if your MP is a cabinet Minister you should inform him/her about the petition and ask if he or she could suggest another MP from your province who might read the petition instead.

The paper CAFA petition is most likely the first step before an online version. We are testing language and how the House of Commons receives it. Take Home Message. If you know of groups that are interested in doing an online version, we should all coordinate carefully our time and resources, and we should be coordinating through Senator Galvez’s office, so they can know what is happening and advise as well.

Canada’s Sustainable Finance Action Council

Of note, in May 2021, Canada’s Sustainable Finance Action Council was launched. The council is mandated to work in close collaboration with the Net Zero Advisory Board to ensure climate considerations are reflected in public and private financial decision making.

Parliamentary e-petition? Let's Talk 1st

The paper CAFA petition above may be the first step before an online version. We are testing language and how the House of Commons receives it.

If you know of groups that are interested in doing an online version, we should all coordinate carefully our time and resources. And, we should be coordinating through Senator Galvez’s office, so they can know what is happening, advise as well and connect groups together.

To our CCL Canada volunteers: We have an e-petition process for determining when and if we do petitions. And with over 40 groups across Canada, we move methodically together on our monthly calls to avoid crossing wires. Please be sure to attend our CCL Canada monthly catch-up calls to stay abreast of any developments. Crossing wires costs time and can be avoided by communication.

Senator Galvez Bio

Biography

Rosa Galvez, originally from Peru, is one of Canada’s leading experts in pollution control and its effect on human health. She has a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from McGill University and has been a professor at Université Laval à Québec since 1994, heading the Civil and Water Engineering Department from 2010 to 2016. She specializes in water and soil decontamination, waste management and residues, and environmental impact and risk assessment.

Throughout her career, she has been requested by private, governmental and community organisations to offer expert advice. She has also advised a number of international organisations including on Canada-US and Quebec-Vermont agreements regarding the protection of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. She also conducted an important study on the catastrophic oil spill at Lac-Mégantic.

Senator Galvez is a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec, the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering and Engineers Without Borders. Her research has led her around the world to countries such as France, Italy, Belgium, Japan and China.

Senator Galvez was appointed to the Senate on December 6, 2016, representing Québec (Bedford). She lives in Quebec with her partner, Luke, and has three children, Virginie, Lydia and Francisco.

Personal Website: https://rosagalvez.ca

Tags:bretton woods, COP 27, finance, follow the money, IEA, IPCC, rosa galvez

CCL Canada Education Call with Senator Rosa Galvez, Tuesday, March 21, 2023

CCL Canada Education Call
with Senator Rosa Galvez
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Regarding S-243: The Climate-Aligned Finance Act

Why we support CAFA