Montana youth climate activists’ recent legal victory against pro-fossil fuel state policies resulted in a narrow but consequential precedent for international climate jurisprudence.

Canada’s federal government has proposed a framework policy to phase out certain “inefficient” fossil fuel industry subsidies.

On June 27, 2023, the Government of Canada announced the launch of its National Adaptation Strategy, set out in a framework plan which identifies various goals and focus areas for future climate adaptation-related policies and investments.

The proposed Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act seeks to establish a framework by which Canada’s government will plan for and assist the national workforce in transitioning to a new, more sustainable economy.

Canada’s parliament is in the final staging of passing updates to Canada’s principal environmental law, including legal recognition of a right to a healthy environment.

The rule may require coal and gas-fired power plants, both new and old, to use carbon and capture sequestration and hydrogen-fueled generation technologies to reduce emissions and achieve an up-to 90% CO2 capture rate by 2035 (for natural gas plants) or 2040 (for existing coal plants scheduled to operate past that date).

On April 14th, Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice dismissed the climate action case Mathur v. Ontario, in which seven youth plaintiffs alleged that Ontario’s lacklustre 2018 climate plan, adopted following Doug Ford’s election to premier, violates the Charter rights of today’s youth and future generations.

Roughly 190 nations at COP15 in Montreal adopted a “landmark” treaty to conserve at least 30% of Earth’s lands and oceans, halve global food waste, and mobilize $200 billion per year in biodiversity-related funding from public and private sources by 2030. 

Environment and Climate Change Canada proposed forthcoming regulations aimed at incentivizing low-emission passenger vehicle adoption in Canada. The regulations will take effect in 2026 and create a program of credits and deficits to reward car manufacturers and importers for meeting “zero emission vehicle” sales quotas.

Though the Ford government claims the law is intended to spur affordable housing construction, opposition parties and civil society groups have criticized the bill as primarily benefiting real estate developers exacerbating urban sprawl, degrading energy efficiency standards, and scraping away much-needed municipal revenue.