Speak up to ban thermal coal now!

It’s time to get rid of this climate killer

Thermal coal – the kind burned to make electricity – is the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel. It creates half the world’s carbon emissions and the pollution it creates kills more than 800,000 people every year.

The government has a plan to phase out thermal coal exports – but it’s way too little and it’s way, way too late. We need to move rapidly to get rid of thermal coal to have any chance of limiting global warming to the Paris target of 1.5 degrees C.

What can you do? Add your name now. Sign this letter to Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault urging the government to fast-track the ban on thermal coal.

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Letter *

Dear Minister Guilbeault,

It is with great urgency that I am writing pursuant to s. 76(3) of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 1999, to formally ask you to add thermal coal to the Priority Substances List, and as soon thereafter as possible, to the Toxic Substances List. This will enable the federal government to regulate the mining, use, export, and import of thermal coal in Canada.

We know burning thermal coal is the single largest contributor to climate change and a major source of toxic pollution that harms human health. My concern lies not only with saving Canadian lives, but our homes, our livelihood, our natural areas, and our infrastructure.

I commend your government for playing a leading role under the previous minister Catherine McKenna in establishing the international Powering Past Coal Alliance. I am grateful for your recent decision to deny the province of New Brunswick an extension to continue burning coal past 2030. I thank your government for the election commitment to ban the export of thermal coal from Canada by 2030. However, given the vanishing carbon budget and the imminent risk of going past our Paris goal of a 1.5 degrees C global average temperature increase, we believe it is essential that the export ban be put into effect as soon as possible.

The reasons for my request are as follows:
1. The physical effects of climate change pose serious risks for Canadians and Canada’s wildlife, including:
a) a reduced ice cover and degrading permafrost in the north affecting community infrastructure and traditional ways of life;
b)  ecosystem changes and shifts in species distribution affecting Canada's species at risk and food supply;
c) increased frequency of drought brought on by climate change, affecting forests and agriculture, posing a risk to productivity and livelihoods;
d) more frequent heat waves and vector-borne diseases affecting health and health systems;
e) increased wildfires putting human lives at risk and posing risks to wildlife;
f) rising sea levels and increased erosion affecting coastal infrastructure;
g) more intense rainfall increasing inland flood risks, landslides, destruction of railway lines, bridges, and highways resulting in disruption of supply chains, damage to urban infrastructure and housing as well as to farmland and food production.

2. Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions have increased since the Paris Agreement was signed, making it the worst performing of all G7 nations since the 2015 Conference of the Parties in Paris, France. In 2021, the government announced its new target of a 40 to 45 per cent reduction below 2005 levels by 2030, and a new target of net-zero emissions by 2050. The government now must revisit its plans, policies and actions needed to achieve these new targets, focusing on meeting the targets, and not just making plans.

Adding thermal coal to the Priority Substances List and the Toxic Substances List, then fast-tracking regulations to ban the import, export, mining and burning of thermal coal would give the government a jump-start toward meeting these new targets.
I look forward to hearing how you intend to deal with my request, and your reasons for dealing with it in that manner.

Sincerely

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Speak up to ban thermal coal now!

It’s time to get rid of this climate killer

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