Canada's Trudeau Pledges New Emissions Reduction Target Of 40-45%

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the global climate summit Thursday that Canada will make deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

The new target is to cut those emissions by 40-45 percent below 2005 levels, Trudeau said, upping the previous goal of 30 percent under the Paris climate accord.

"We must take action now. Because there's no vaccine against a polluted planet," Trudeau told the virtual summit being hosted by US President Joe Biden.

He said his government will enshrine this new goal in a law as Canada works to become carbon neutral by 2050.

As it presented a budget Monday the government had already raised Canada's emissions reduction target to 36 percent below 2005 levels.

In his speech Trudeau said Canada had adopted one of the strictest carbon taxes in the world. It will go from $50 per ton of CO2 -- the main greenhouse gas -- to $170 a ton by 2030.

"Yes, you heard that right - $170 a ton," he said.

"If major economies in the room were to follow Canada's lead and adopt a rising price on pollution and commit to phase out coal plants, we would accelerate our global path for a safe, prosperous net-zero future," Trudeau said.

Radio-Canada said Wednesday that a minimum 40 percent target was the "price of entry" to the summit, which marks the United States's return to the climate table.

On Tuesday, former US vice president Al Gore urged Trudeau in a Twitter message to try for a reduction of at least 50 percent by 2030.