CANADA Law and Practice Contributed by: Thomas McInerney, Selina Lee-Andersen, Sonia J. Struthers and Elyse Bouey, McCarthy Tétrault LLP
en. Cooperation with other parties to the Paris Agree - ment continues through NDC submissions (including the 2035 NDC) and advocacy for robust international accounting rules that ensure environmental integrity and avoid double-counting. There are currently no formal bilateral Article 6.2 agreements concluded by Canada, likely because the country is still developing its ITMO policy. Should Canada conclude bilateral agreements and establish authorisation and tracking arrangements, opportu - nities could arise for Canadian project developers, investors and credit purchasers in originating, financ - ing and transacting mitigation activities authorised for international transfer, and in leveraging Canadian clean-technology expertise. 2.5.2 Article 6.4 – The Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism Canada has not established a Designated National Authority (DNA) for the Article 6.4 mechanism – the prerequisite body for authorising participation – and is not among those countries the UNFCCC records as having made such designation. There is accordingly no Canada-specific Article 6.4 process at present, nor are there any Canada-hosted Article 6.4 projects. 2.5.3 Article 6.8 – Non-Market Approaches On Article 6.8 (non-market approaches), Canada is engaged internationally – participating in UNF - CCC guidance development, maintaining a national focal point, and recording at least one non-market approach on the UNFCCC platform – but has no domestic implementing legislation. 2.6 Climate Litigation Climate-focused and climate-related litigation is a growing and significant, though still developing, fea - ture of Canada’s legal landscape. The principal catego - ries include constitutional and public-law challenges to government climate action or inaction; federalism litigation over carbon pricing and regulatory authority; and a growing body of regulatory-disclosure, ESG and greenwashing claims. Litigants typically include youth and public-interest claimants, Indigenous peoples, governments, regulators and enforcement bodies.
Youth and public-interest claimants have driven some of the leading constitutional cases in Canada. In Mathur v Ontario , 2024 ONCA 762, the Ontario Court of Appeal set aside the dismissal of a Charter chal - lenge to Ontario’s weakened 2030 emissions target and remitted the matter for reconsideration, holding that Ontario had voluntarily assumed a positive obli - gation to address climate change consistent with the Charter. In La Rose v Canada , 2023 FCA 241, the Fed - eral Court of Appeal allowed the youth plaintiffs’ sec - tion 7 Charter claims to proceed, with an eight-week trial now set to begin in October 2026. La Rose was heard and decided together with a parallel challenge advanced by Indigenous claimants in Misdzi Yikh v Canada , but that claim remains at an earlier proce - dural stage following a further motion to strike. Indigenous peoples are a distinct and increasingly influential category of litigant in the climate-related legal landscape, advancing claims through two chan - nels. First, Indigenous groups – such as the Misdzi Yikh claimants – may bring constitutional claims to press for more ambitious federal climate action. Second, and of greater day-to-day significance for investors and industry, Indigenous rights-holders are central parties in litigation over the resource, ener - gy, transmission and infrastructure projects through which the climate transition is delivered. Section 35 of the Constitution Act , 1982 protects Aboriginal and treaty rights, and the Crown’s duty to consult and, where appropriate, accommodate those rights – root - ed in the honour of the Crown and triggered whenever the Crown contemplates conduct that may adversely affect asserted or established rights. Section 35 rights may provide a basis for challenging project authorisa - tions and, where consultation is found wanting, delay - ing or quashing them. This same rights framework is, however, as much an opportunity as a risk: Indigenous equity ownership in major energy and infrastructure projects – supported by federal and provincial loan- guarantee programs – has made early engagement and partnership a core project-de-risking and value- creation strategy. Greenwashing claims in Canada have also been mate - rially impacted by amendments to the Competition Act (RSC 1985, c. C-34) enacted through Bill C-59 (the Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act ,
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