Thank you.
Good evening, members, and thanks for this opportunity.
My name is Amy Nugent. I'm the associate director for marine climate action with Oceans North.
Oceans North is a Canadian charitable organization and world-leading ENGO that supports marine conservation and climate action in partnership with indigenous communities and coastal communities.
I want to focus my comments today on those sections of Bill C-33 that amend the Canada Marine Act.
We would urge members to pass Bill C-33 this year. We recognize and agree with other comments that the amendments are not perfect but that they are important. With respect to climate change, we can't afford to delay.
We urge three further steps to support Bill C-33 during the course of this presentation.
One is to include the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act explicitly in subsection 43(1) of the Canada Marine Act.
The second is that the Government of Canada should enable ports to play a role up and and down the supply chain by including decarbonization as a key criterion of land use and capital planning.
Three is that the Government of Canada should develop competitiveness incentives for the maritime sector, those that are competitive with the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States and competitive with other Canadian sectors like the automotive sector and oil and gas.
This past summer, while many Canadian cities were blanketed in smoke, the International Maritime Organization, IMO, set new targets: a 10% clean-fuel standard and a 30% GHG reduction target by 2030. These are important signals that our industry will need to fully decarbonize by 2050. Canada's formal submission to the IMO in fact advocated for even more ambitious targets, but we do not see, and we need to see, this ambition reflected in domestic policies and supports.
We echo the comments this evening and otherwise made that ports cannot be expected to be policy or greenhouse gas emissions experts, but they do have a critical role to play. Ports across the country support some of the communities most exposed to climate risk, of course, and as a linchpin in our energy and economic supply chains, ports can also support the uptake of zero-emission fuels and new technologies.
In the “Green Shipping Corridors” report that Oceans North completed with several partners, including the Vancouver Maritime Centre for Climate, we found that each port—and this is no news to people here—has a very distinct energy context and market demands. It is not only worthwhile but it is a requirement of a zero-emission future that we provide flexible pathways on how ports get there.
In terms of Bill C-33's specific requirements for climate plans, both mitigation and adaptation, we are, as I have said, supportive. GHG reduction targets, climate adaptation plans and progress reporting on actions are all necessary. Under Bill C-33, these are stronger than existing green marine voluntary measures, but it is impractical and unnecessary to ask each of Canada's 17 port authorities to establish unique GHG targets and complementary actions. Targets are already established under Canadian law. We need to use these targets.
Transport Canada should create guidance materials and what it has committed to in terms of a marine climate action plan and do so quickly. Ports can both be required and supported to comply.
We also recommend that, under subsection 28(2) of the act, a third section be added to enable ports to engage in energy planning. Our previous two speakers have talked about the role of ports in decarbonization. Let's enable that energy planning with municipalities to ensure that these ports can meet the energy demand of and at ports as a priority.
In terms of capital investment, we also, like we've heard tonight, heard from port authorities that access to capital is a barrier to decarbonizing, and we support increased financial flexibility as well as other borrowing measures that port authorities like Hamilton-Oshawa have suggested here tonight.
Bill C-33 recognizes a role for the Canada Infrastructure Bank in terms of public financing and equity, but that could be, in practice, strengthened. Oceans North recommends, analogous to other sectors, that the Canada Infrastructure Bank establish a decarbonizing ports investment and infrastructure advisory group within the bank, which would have a mandate to assist with commercial contracts for major clean energy and infrastructure projects. As you know, the Canada Infrastructure Bank also leverages private capital.
Oceans North also recommends that the Government of Canada act aggressively—