Obama, Canada’s Trudeau pledge to promote climate plan

President Barack Obama of United States and his Canadian counterpart, Prime Minister Justin Tradeau, on Thursday, announced joint efforts to curb emissions of planet-warming gases.

Mr. Obama played the older, more experienced host to Mr. Trudeau’s fresh-faced newcomer during the visit, the first official one by a Canadian leader in 19 years, as the two announced that they were teaming up to reduce the release of methane, a chemical contained in natural gas.

“He campaigned on a message of hope and of change; his positive and optimistic vision is inspiring young people,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference in the White House Rose Garden, drawing unmistakable parallels between Mr. Trudeau’s rise to power and his own. “On the world stage, his country is leading on climate change and cares deeply about development, so from my perspective, what’s not to like?”

Mr. Obama and Mr. Trudeau pledged that their two countries would “play a leadership role internationally in the low-carbon global economy over the coming decades.” As part of the announcement, United States officials said they would immediately begin a new push to regulate methane emissions from existing oil and gas facilities, though finishing that process before the end of Mr. Obama’s tenure is unlikely.

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The Obama administration is determined to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 percent to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025. The Interior Department has proposed a number of regulations on methane leaks, but it has yet to write a regulation governing such leaks from current oil and gas drilling on public land.

Mr. Obama and Mr. Trudeau also pledged to cooperate in preserving the Arctic, and to move more quickly to carry out agreements made in climate talks in Paris last year.

“The president and I agree on many things, including, of paramount importance, the direction we want to take our countries in to ensure a clean and prosperous future,” Mr. Trudeau said, thanking the president, whom he addressed as Barack, for his leadership on climate change. “Canada and the U.S. will stand side by side to confront the pressing needs that face not only our two countries, but the entire planet.”

While Canada and the United States have long been close allies, Mr. Obama’s efforts to confront global warming was a major point of contention with Mr. Trudeau’s predecessor, Stephen Harper, who sought to aggressively expand Canada’s
oil industry.

As Mr. Obama became more determined to leave behind a lasting environmental legacy, he delayed and eventually rejected construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have transported nearly a million barrels a day of heavily polluting petroleum from the Alberta oil sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast.

Mr. Obama’s rejection of the pipeline severely strained relations with Mr. Harper, but Mr. Trudeau’s election last year signalled a shift in policy that was welcomed by the White House. Mr. Trudeau did not criticize Mr. Obama’s stance on the pipeline, and he has pledged to pursue an ambitious environmental agenda dovetailing with Mr. Obama’s policies.

In December, Canadian officials helped to push through a historic global climate agreement in Paris.

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