Canada's parliament has approved the ratification of the Paris Agreement on combating climate change. The North American nation's House of Commons voted in favour with 207 votes for and 81 against (those of Conservative MPs).

Canada announces the introduction of a carbon tax

This is a particularly significant piece of news, given that Canada has adopted decidedly contradictory environmental policies in recent years. Above all, governments have until now never been willing to give up the exploitation of oil extracted from tar sands, which non-governmental organisations consider "the dirtiest of all fossil fuels". With the election of Justin Trudeau, however, the direction appears to have changed: the prime minister has kept his promise to call a parliamentary vote on the Paris Agreement and has announced the introduction of a national carbon tax (set at 10 dollars per tonne of CO2, rising to 50 by 2023).

The Paris Agreement will enter into force before Cop 22

According to the United Nations climate convention, 74 nations have now deposited the documents required for the ratification of the Paris Agreement. They represent 58.82 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is sufficient for the agreement to enter into force. This will happen within 30 days, and therefore before the start of Cop 22, the global climate conference scheduled in Morocco from 7 to 18 November.
The very first to begin the ratification procedure at the United Nations, back in April, were the island nations, which are more at risk than any others of paying the price of climate change, due to rising sea levels caused by the melting of the polar ice caps. This was followed by the historic green lights from China and the United States (the world's two largest "producers" of polluting emissions). India, meanwhile, has pledged to complete ratification by the end of the year. The European Parliament also voted in favour of adopting the Agreement at its session on 4 October, with 610 votes for, 38 against and 31 abstentions.