Climate news & insights

Canada’s top court has thrown its support behind the kind of unified climate action younger generations want and need. It’s a good day for intergenerational solidarity. In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in support of minimum national standards that require all provinces to curb carbon pollution, including by putting a price on it.

Big news! The federal government has proposed new climate change legislation that’s supposed to help Canada (on balance) ditch carbon emissions by 2050, also called achieving net-zero, by requiring a bunch of smaller targets along the way.

This week’s Supreme Court of Canada review of the federal carbon tax is an important one to watch. At the heart of the top court’s hearing is the question: Is our country ready and able to work together to fight the climate crisis?

Most people agree we need to take serious action to address the climate emergency. Working together is our best, and possibly only, chance of solving it. But Canada is facing a major hurdle in its fight against the climate crisis. One of our most important national climate change policies is being challenged in the Supreme Court by provinces that don’t want to take meaningful action.

While many of us face serious affordability challenges, our organization knows pricing pollution is not the source of that problem. The source is high costs for housing, child care, postsecondary, transit, etc. — especially since young people’s earnings have stagnated over the last four decades.

The pricing pollution debate heats up as the Saskatchewan and Ontario Courts of Appeal hear arguments about the constitutionality of federal plans to price carbon in provinces that don’t establish their own. Some express heartfelt concerns that pricing pollution hurts everyday Canadians: think commuters, hockey moms shuttling kids to practice or office workers.