Prime Minister Mark Carney and a number of other different world leaders who did not attend the UN Climate Conference in Turkey have been awarded the “fossil of the day” title.
Climate Action Network International, which has handed out the satirical award since 1999, says Tuesday’s version went to the “absent leaders of wealthy countries,” together with Canada, Germany, France, Japan and Denmark.
“Despite widespread public demands for stronger climate action, these countries’ empty chairs send a dismal signal about their commitment to international climate co-operation,” mentioned a Climate Action Network International press launch.Â
“They haven’t gone as far as the United States in abandoning the Paris Agreement altogether, but they appear to have decided that COP31 is no longer important enough to warrant their presence.”
The press launch mentioned the leaders’ summit is the place heads of presidency set political path, construct alliances and “earn the trust that unlocks progress in the negotiations.”
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“It is also where they can sit down with their peers from vulnerable countries and hear their priorities first-hand,” it mentioned. “With multilateral co-operation under growing strain, that matters more than ever.”
Canada’s repute as a worldwide local weather chief took successful final yr when it was awarded the “fossil of the day” award on the UN Climate Conference in Brazil.
At the time, Climate Action Network International mentioned Canada was singled out for the primary time in additional than a decade for “flushing years of climate action down the drain.”
New Zealand obtained the award on Monday, as Climate Action Network International mentioned its authorities has dismantled its local weather commitments by gutting methane targets and altering the regulation to defend firms from local weather litigation.
Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin is attending the primary week of the convention and a few local weather activists say Canada can anticipate some criticism there from different nations over its current local weather coverage shifts.
Since taking workplace, Carney has rolled again or cancelled a lot of local weather insurance policies enacted by former prime minister Justin Trudeau, together with the patron carbon tax, an electrical automobile gross sales mandate and an emissions cap on oil and gasoline manufacturing.
Canada’s surroundings commissioner issued a report final month which mentioned the federal government deserted work in 2024 on a 2021 pledge to ban exports of thermal coal, with none file of getting a directive to take action.
Ottawa mentioned that work is barely “paused,” although the report additionally mentioned Ottawa formalized the tip of the work in August 2025 as a part of funds cuts.
Carney was in Montreal Tuesday the place he hosted a dialogue with leaders in Canada’s cultural sector to spotlight investments within the federal funds that assist Canadian tradition.Â
On Wednesday, he’ll take part in a nationwide Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa earlier than leaving on a 10-day abroad journey that doesn’t embody journey to COP in Turkey.
He will attend the European Political Community summit in Dublin, Ireland, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Manila, Philippines, the biennial Francophonie summit of French-speaking nations in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and at last the Asia-Pacific Economic Coooperation summit in Shenzhen, China.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Nov. 10, 2026.Â
-With information from Nick Murray and Dylan Robertson
Source: The Energy Mix