In a nutshell: The climate crisis is a multidimensional problem and global in scope. Listening to experts and cooperating across nations is key to unwinding our economies from fossil fuels in manner that is fair, fast, forever and feminist. At the 28 Conference of the Parties  (COP 28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Dubai, Canada signed climate pledges and forged alliances, and partnerships. These pledges, alliances, and partnerships underscore a global commitment to addressing climate change and its interconnected challenges through collaborative action across sectors and nations.

1.  Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge: Canada joined 140 countries committing to tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency improvements by 2030. (1)

2. Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action:  Canada endorsed an initiative to transform food systems, with 159 nations supporting the declaration. (2)

3.  Joint Statement on Climate, Nature, and People:  Canada was among 18 countries endorsing a statement uniting for nature and climate action. (3)

4. International Coalition to Phase Out Fossil Fuel Subsidies: Canada joined a coalition aiming to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, alongside various nations. (4)

5. Declaration on Climate and Health:  Canada supported a declaration highlighting climate change’s health implications, with 132 countries signing on. (5)

6. Declaration on Climate Relief, Recovery, and Peace: Canada endorsed a declaration offering support to vulnerable communities affected by climate change, along with numerous other nations. (6)

7.  Declaration on Gender Balance and Just Transitions: Canada endorsed a partnership addressing gender impacts of climate change, along with 70 other countries. (7)

8. Global Cooling Pledge: Canada committed to passive cooling strategies and HFC refrigerant phase-down, along with several other countries. (8)

9. Canada’s Global Carbon Pricing Challenge: At COP 26 in Glasgow Canada initiated a challenge to promote carbon pricing. Just before COP 28 it was  endorsed by the EU and others at the EU-Canada Summit. Chile, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Côte d’Ivoire, Germany, and others have also signed on. (9) (10)

10. Powering  Past Coal Alliance: This is a special mention. The Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA) is a coalition of national and subnational governments, businesses and organisations working to advance the transition from unabated coal power generation to clean energy. The UK and Canada launched the PPCA COP 19 in Bonn and it has been instrumental in powering the world past coal. (11) (12)

Pre-2015: From 2008-2014, Canada was ranked at the very bottom of countries for cooperation at the UNFCCC COPs by Climate Action Network International and proudly wore being the climate pariah at the international negotiations with honour in 2013 (13). We were the only nation to pull out of the UNFCCC’s Kyoto Protocol (in 2011) and we were unable to meet our Copenhagen targets in 2014 despite being the first G7 country to ratify the UNFCCC in 1992 when the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, Canada’s Greenest Prime Minister was at the helm. (14)

References:
1. Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge
https://www.cop28.com/en/global-renewables-and-energy-efficiency-pledge 
2. Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action
https://www.cop28.com/en/news/2023/12/COP28-UAE-Presidency-puts-food-systems-transformation
3. Joint Statement on Climate, Nature, and People
https://www.cop28.com/en/joint-statement-on-climate-nature
4. International Coalition to Phase Out Fossil Fuel Subsidies
https://unfccc.int/event/the-netherlands-signing-joint-ministerial-statement-on-fossil-fuel-subsidies
5.  Declaration on Climate and Health
https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/cop28-uae-declaration-on-climate-and-health
6. Declaration on Climate Relief, Recovery, and Peace
https://www.cop28.com/en/cop28-declaration-on-climate-relief-recovery-and-peace
7. Declaration on Gender Balance and Just Transitions
https://www.ilo.org/global/research/global-reports/weso/trends2021/WCMS_794452/lang–en/index.htm
8.  Global Cooling Pledge
https://www.cop28.com/en/global-cooling-pledge-for-cop28
9.  Canada’s Global Carbon Pricing Challenge https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/climate-action/pricing-carbon-pollution/global-challenge.html
10 Canada’s Global Carbon Pricing Challenge
https://www.globalcarbonpricingchallenge.org/
11 Power Past Coal Alliance
https://poweringpastcoal.org/
12 ‘Political watershed’ as 19 countries pledge to phase out coal
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/16/political-watershed-as-19-countries-pledge-to-phase-out-coal
13 Canada wears climate pariah label “with honour”
https://www.climatechangenews.com/2013/05/10/canada-wears-climate-pariah-label-with-honour/
14 A brief history of Canada’s climate change agreements
https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/a-brief-history-of-canadas-climate-change-agreements/