Net-zero advisory body members say Ottawa risks more resignations

OTTAWA — The four remaining members of Canada’s independent net-zero advisory body are calling on Ottawa to change how the group functions, and two of them say it risks more resignations if things don’t improve.

Two of the founding members of the advisory body resigned this week. They accused the government of not engaging with the group on key policy changes that have shifted Canada’s trajectory on meeting its Paris climate targets.

The net-zero advisory body, abbreviated as NZAB, was created in 2021 as part of Canada’s Net-Zero Accountability Act. It requires Canada’s environment minister to take the advisory body’s advice into account when setting emissions targets or changing the emissions reduction plan.

Simon Donner and Catherine Abreu, who resigned from the panel this week, said there has been a shift in how the federal government engages with the group.

Robert Hornung, NZAB member and CEO of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association, said that while the government is following the letter of the act, NZAB members expect to weigh in on how policy changes will affect Canada’s climate targets.

“The NZAB has been established through legislation to serve as an advisory body for the federal government on climate change, and we really haven’t had the opportunity to do that with the current government,” Hornung told The Canadian Press.

He said his continued involvement with the NZAB is conditional on the vacancies being filled and additional funding to carry out its research.

“The other part of it is to get some reassurances from government that they actually are seeking our input and advice,” Hornung said.

“In the absence of that, I’ll certainly have to think about my future participation, for sure.”

The group has gone from nine members to four since March. Along with the two resignations this week, co-chair Sarah Houde resigned earlier this year and the terms of two other members expired. The NZAB has no chair after Donner’s resignation Tuesday.

Karen Ross, executive director of Farmers for Climate Solutions, told The Canadian Press she plans to stay on but her ongoing participation is “conditional on a few key changes.”

“Right now we have four members, which will not be a functional NZAB without more diverse perspectives,” she said, citing a lack of Indigenous voices within the group.

She also said she wants more clarity on how the advisory body’s secretariat — a branch within Environment and Climate Change Canada — works with the group on various files.

“The only direction that (the secretariat) has been provided is to support the NZAB in producing its annual report,” Ross said.

“That has been the only work in the past six months that has been staffed for the NZAB since the period of the election.”

According to the federal government’s employee directory, the secretariat has eight staffers in four cities in three time zones.

In her resignation letter, Abreu said the government didn’t consult with the NZAB ahead of the memorandum of understanding on a pipeline project signed with Alberta last week, or on the passage of Bill C-5, which gave the government the power to exempt certain projects from some environmental laws.

Ross said the NZAB should have been consulted before the government made those decisions.

“These recent changes will mean that we will not come close to achieving the 2030 target and therefore dramatically change the plans in place and the potential for progress,” she said.

“I agree that a lack of consultation with the NZAB … doesn’t align with the spirit of the act and the importance of having independent expert advice on key climate decisions that will so significantly impact the potential to achieve targets.”

Canada must table an update to its emissions reduction plan before the end of the year, as required under the act. The report has to include an assessment of the 2030 targets.

Canada has committed to cut emissions to at least 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. The government’s last progress report in 2023 contained an entire section submitted by the advisory body.

With less than a month to go before the progress report is due, the government has not reached out to the advisory body for input.

NZAB member Michael Bernstein said he has no plans to step down but he’d like to see the advisory body made more independent, like similar panels in the United Kingdom and other countries.

“In an ideal scenario, the NZAB would also have a budget that they were in control of, and staff that the advisers on the body were independently hiring, rather than a secretariat that comes from government,” said Bernstein, president and CEO of Clean Prosperity.

Bernstein said he’s not concerned about the level of engagement between Ottawa and the NZAB and is keen to support the government’s direction on climate policy. He called the Carney government’s direction a “sensible approach that’s anchored on using carbon pricing and balancing.”

“I think that this new approach represents a potential turning point in our decarbonization journey,” he said.

“So to me the this new approach is a step forward.”

In an email exchange with The Canadian Press, Damon Matthews said it’s been “a mess” since he joined the NZAB in March, pointing to the collapse of the group’s membership with “no apparent signal from the government that they noticed or were concerned.”

The Canadian Press has asked Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin’s office why the government hadn’t filled the three vacancies before this week’s resignations.

“We have received no direction or requests for advice since the election, other than a go-ahead to produce our annual report as required by law. It took four months post-election to receive even the formal go-ahead to resume work,” said Matthews, a professor of geography, planning and environment at Concordia University.

“Clearly, changes are needed. Only four of us (with no co-chairs left) are not enough to do anything meaningful. I was the only new member appointed after a yearlong application and interview process.”

Matthews said he is not sure why candidates have not yet been appointed.

“More members and new leadership is now a critical priority,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2025.

Nick Murray, The Canadian Press