Ottawa | Traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People – As Canada braces for another summer of dangerous heat, wildfires and storms, three young Canadians, alongside health and environmental organizations, are taking the federal government to court, arguing that Prime Minister Carney’s government no longer has a credible plan to meet its legally binding 2030 climate target.
The case, launched by Ecojustice on behalf of Sophia Mathur, Marie Maltais, Shirley Barnea, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), and Environmental Defence, alleges that the federal government’s comprehensive rollbacks of key measures in the federal climate plan have created legal violations of the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act (CNZEAA).
The applicants are asking the court to order the federal government to revise its 2030 climate plan so that it meets its legal obligation to chart a credible, up to date course of action capable of achieving Canada’s 2030 emissions target, to protect Canadians from the worsening impacts of climate change. The government would be free to choose the measures it intends to take to achieve the target but the public would have a right to weigh in.
Quebec-based youth applicant Marie Maltais says: “My generation has grown up surrounded by climate disasters and broken political promises to address them. We’re told to trust the government’s climate commitments — but commitments mean nothing without a real plan behind them.”
Ecojustice Climate Director, Charlie Hatt says: “You cannot abandon the map and still expect to reach your destination. Yet that’s exactly what the federal government has done with its 2030 climate plan. Right now, its only climate plan is a plan to fail — and that’s not just irresponsible, it’s unlawful under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act. Neither the climate nor the law can tolerate rollbacks today in exchange for promises of action many years from now.”
Over the past year, PM Carney and his government have weakened or repealed key climate measures — including policies targeting oil and gas emissions, vehicle pollution, and carbon pricing — without presenting alternatives to deal with the resulting increase in climate pollution. The rollbacks culminated last month in agreements to massively expand fossil fuel production while weakening industrial carbon pricing and regulations to control electricity sector climate pollution, alongside the government’s broader push to gut a host of cornerstone federal environmental laws.
As a result, even if fully implemented as it stood in December 2025, the government’s climate plans would at best reduce Canada’s emissions by 21 – 28 per cent in 2030, missing Canada’s legally mandated 2030 target by 90 to 140 million tonnes of climate change fueling carbon emissions. Further weakening of policies since then indicates that gap has only widened.
The case comes as communities across the country grapple with the growing impacts of fossil fuel-driven climate change, including deadly heatwaves, floods, wildfires, rising food prices, public health impacts, and increasingly uninsurable homes. The economic impacts of climate change are no longer a future risk — climate change is already damaging Canadians’ homes, increasing the cost of living, risking food security, and raising insurance costs. Insured losses from severe weather reached a record $8.5 billion in 2024, with uninsured losses estimated at triple that amount.
Julia Levin, Environmental Defence Associate Director, National Climate says: “PM Carney is betraying Canadians by taking a wrecking ball to our hard fought climate progress. It is Canadians who are paying the price through wildfires, heat domes, rising food insecurity and high costs of living. The rest of the world is rapidly adopting clean energy systems that are already more reliable, affordable and secure than fossil fuels. Meanwhile, our Prime Minister is copying President Trump’s playbook, ensuring that Canada will be left behind.”
The applicants maintain that the Carney government’s failure to bring its 2030 climate plan in line with the law is a consequence of its short-sighted push to expand fossil fuel production and fossil fuel dependency, risking Canadians’ health in communities across the country.
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment President, Dr. Samantha Green says: “Everyone in Canada deserves to be safe and healthy. Instead, our government is putting people at risk by dismantling key climate policies without a credible plan to reduce emissions. Climate change is not an abstract future threat: it is a public health emergency that is already harming patients and communities across Canada. That’s why CAPE is joining this lawsuit.”
Ontario-based youth applicant Sophia Mathur, who recently met with Prime Minister Carney and urged him to keep the climate promises he has made publicly, adds: “Young people are being handed the consequences of decisions we didn’t make. We are going to live with the impacts of unchecked climate change for the rest of our lives – so we’re standing up for our futures, now.”
The case comes as part of a growing wave of citizen-led climate cases around the world and in Canada, as people — especially youth — increasingly turn to the courts when governments fail to uphold their legal obligations to climate action.
The applicants say their case sends a clear message, with Quebec-based youth applicant, Shirley Barnea adding: “The Carney government’s gutting of climate policy is a massive insult. After presenting himself as a climate leader, our prime minister is now abdicating responsibility — to Canadians, to future generations, to the law. As long as governments continue ignoring climate science and rolling back protections for our futures, young people will continue taking them to court.”
Background
- Under the CNZEAA, the federal government is legally required to set science-based climate targets, establish a credible plan to achieve them, and regularly report on its progress. The applicants argue that the federal government no longer has a plan to achieve the critical 2030 target, as confirmed by its own reporting.
- By law, the 2030 emissions reduction plan must describe the key emissions reduction measures that the Government of Canada “intends to take to achieve” the 2030 Target. However, the government no longer intends to take the key measures detailed in that plan – instead it has gutted them. Yet the plan has never been amended under CNZEAA to reflect this.
- The Applicants argue that the government’s “set it and forget it” approach to the 2030 emissions reduction plan is unlawful.
- By failing to amend its climate plan, the federal government has avoided having to ensure any amendments are consistent with the purposes of CNZEAA, which include promoting transparency, accountability, and immediate and ambitious action to achieve targets, as well as supporting achievement of Canada’s international commitments on mitigating climate change.
- Failing to amend also means the federal government has avoided mandatory public consultation with people like these young Canadians, health and environmental associations, as well as Indigenous peoples of Canada, Provinces, the net-zero-advisory body and others interested in Canada’s climate plan.
Additional resources
About
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) is a physician-directed non-profit organization working to secure human health by protecting the planet. Since its founding in 1994, CAPE’s work has achieved substantial policy victories in collaboration with many partners in the environmental and health movements. From coast to coast to coast, the organization operates throughout the country with regional committees active in most provinces and all territories.
Ecojustice uses the power of the law to defend nature, combat climate change and fight for a healthy environment. Its strategic, public interest lawsuits and advocacy lead to precedent-setting court decisions, law and policy that deliver lasting solutions to Canada’s most urgent environmental problems. As Canada’s largest environmental law charity, Ecojustice operates offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax.
Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.
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For more information or to request an interview, please contact:
Cari Siebrits, Communications Strategist, Ecojustice (647) 620-212, csiebrits@ecojustice.ca
