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A SPECIAL INTEREST SECTION BY MEDIAPLANET
Q& A WITH THE
Minister of Natural Resources In an interview with Mediaplanet, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, discusses his role in fighting climate change and pursuing opportunities for sustainable job creation.
Climate Action & the Circular Economy
As the Minister of Natural Resources, what’s your role in fighting climate change? Well, there are at least a couple of roles. Several pieces of the climate plan that reside in Natural Resources Canada relate to implementing elements. I have responsibility for the Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program and the development and coordination across the ministries of the Buildings Strategy about reducing emissions in the building space. In a country like Canada, which historically has a significant part of its economy derived from oil and gas, how do you transition to a future in which oil and gas will be less significant as a driver of economic growth yet continue to have a prosperous economy? That was the Prime Minister’s mandate when he asked me to take this on. That relates to things like the Regional Tables and the Critical Minerals Strategy.
What are the Regional Energy and Resource Tables?
Designing a Regenerative Circular Economy Tackling the root causes of global challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution, is an urgent priority. Andrew Morlet
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Andrew Morlet CEO, Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Learn more at ellenmacarthur foundation.org.
he key to creating solutions is transforming A circular economy approach to industry and land our current “take-make-waste” economy use is increasingly being adopted by businesses and into one that's regenerative by design. The enabled by governments across the world. In Canada, circular economy offers this genuine opportunity regenerative farming systems helped soils remove 4.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products in 2019, offsetting 5.8 percent of agricultural GHGs. and materials, and regenerate nature. The circular economy is a systems solution Food manufacturers operating their own farms framework that retains the value embedded and buying from independent farmers are in products and materials, decoupling now investing in building up expertise in these agricultural practices on economic activities from the extracThe circular tion of the Earth’s finite stock of the ground — an illustration of the economy is a systems resources. If we can keep things essentially collaborative nature of solution framework in use for longer through circular the circular economy. that retains the value business models such as reuse, B y 2 0 3 0, Ne w B r u n s embedded in products repair, and remanufacturing, wick-based McCain Foods aims to and materials, decoupling then the need for production using use regenerative farming systems economic activities from across “virgin” materials is reduced, proall the 370,000 acres of land the extraction of the viding an opportunity for better it farms globally to produce potaEarth’s finite stock growth while leaving space for nature toes. As part of this plan, it has set up of resources. to thrive. an “AgPortal” to funnel essential data to Economic activity in a circular economy farmers so they can test out the effectiveness can also actively regenerate natural systems. For of these agricultural techniques. example, take a circular economy for food, in which Food giant Danone has established a regenerative products are designed using ingredients that are agriculture scorecard that helps the farmers it works low-impact, diverse, upcycled, and grown in regenerawith to measure and test soil health, water levels, tive farming systems. Creating food products using and other factors that contribute to biodiversity prothese ingredients can help to rebuild degraded soils. tection. In addition, regenerative farming systems, such as Cutting-edge Canadian digital technology is also agroecology, agroforestry, and managed grazing, can helping to accelerate the move to regenerate nature. At the University of Guelph, agrometeorology professor increase biodiversity because an absence of chemical inputs builds healthier soils that sequester carbon, Claudia Wagner-Riddle and her team are developing helping to keep it out of the atmosphere. digital sensors to test the effect of regenerative farming Shifting to regenerative production, using upcycled systems on soil health. ingredients, and eliminating food waste could halve As we move forward in a world with many uncerthe greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the food tainties, the circular economy depends on the expertise industry alone by 2050. These practices are essential and energy of everyone in the system to work together if we stand a chance of hitting the targets set in the to redesign the way we make and use things. This is a Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees blueprint for a future that invests in our natural world, compared to pre-industrial levels by 2100. building resilience for us all.
The Regional Energy and Resource Tables (Regional Tables) are designed to pursue opportunities for sustainable job creation and economic growth for a low-carbon future. Having grown up in Saskatchewan, I believe that it’s a conversation that can’t be had solely at a national level and that each province and territory has its unique set of resources and opportunities. For example, the options for Quebec will differ from those for Alberta. These Regional Tables are intended to align the work of governments with the private sector, Indigenous Peoples, and labour workers to accelerate the most significant opportunities in each province and territory. The idea is not to focus on 30 different things we could discuss. The three or four major opportunities can really move the needle in creating jobs and economic growth. For example, in British Columbia, a couple of the areas we’re focusing on are critical minerals, hydrogen, and the electrification of heavy industries. It will be quite different in Quebec as they’re focused on battery production. So these Regional Tables will allow us to create action plans to align the resources we’re bringing to the table (because the federal government has a pot of money for clean fuels and a net-zero accelerator, and $4 billion allocated for critical minerals). We'll align those with what the provinces are doing and look at whether or not additional resourcing is going to be required to achieve the goals that we'll jointly establish.
What should Canadians expect from you next? They should expect that we'll work collaboratively with governments in their respective provinces and territories to accelerate the move toward a prosperous economic future. We'll build on critical minerals, hydrogen, batteries, and electric vehicles to ensure that our kids’ financial future will be bright. One of the helpful things in the context of our action plan is that we'll be using many new and different technologies, yet the skill sets will be very similar. Read our full interview with Minister Wilkinson at innovatingcanada.ca.
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