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Ontario Environment Minister says subnational governments are key to implementing COP21 targets

Ontario's Minister for Environment and Climate Change Glen Murray said that subnational regions--particularly in the North America--will have to implement the commitments that national governments will be signing at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) in Paris.

In an interview with France 24, Murray said that signing the treaty is the easy part but the agreements only become meaningful when the rise in global temperatures is kept under two degrees. "But who is going to do that? National governments can't do that very easily. The US Congress is undermining as much as they can all the efforts under President Obama. So it falls on California, Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, Jalisco, Nueva Leon--all of the states in these jurisdictions are going to have to make these work.

He added that subnational governments, exercising their regulatory powers, can put a price on carbon or close coal power plants. Once a network of states and regions are formed, then a carbon pricing market can be set up in support of the treaty's targets.

View video of interview