A rare visit by a Canadian official to China
Environment Minister heads to PRC for climate and biodiversity discussions
Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault traveled to Beijing on Saturday to attend discussions on combating climate change and preserving biodiversity. Guilbeault became the first Canadian minister to visit China in four years.
As a reminder, relations between China and Canada have cooled considerably recently, due to allegations of China's interference in Canadian politics. However, in Canada's efforts to remain one of the world's leaders on environmental issues, the environment minister has been traveling even to countries with which Canada has strained relations.
"I'm hoping that we can have open and frank conversations about a number of issues relating to climate change," Guilbeault shared with Reuters before the trip. He also expressed hope that China and Canada have ways to cooperate.
Canada's environment minister will attend the annual meeting of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), a climate advisory group to the Chinese government. The meeting will take place from August 28 to 30.
According to Guilbeault, he wants to raise 2 important issues at the meeting. The first is reducing methane emissions. The second is the global renewable energy chain, the discussion of which is particularly relevant ahead of the UN climate change conference expected later this year.
"There's a lot of low hanging fruits in terms of methane emission. This is a conversation we can have with the Chinese government and... maybe we could work on that together," Guilbeault told reporters.
Guilbeault also shared that he wants to follow up on the UN conservation summit that Canada hosted under the Chinese presidency late last year, which culminated in the signing of a global agreement to protect ecosystems that support half of the world's economy.
