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Maltais et al. v. Minister of Environment - application

Filing Year For Action

On June 15, 2026, youth climate advocates Marie Maltais, Sophia Mathur, and Shirley Barnea, together with Environmental Defence Canada and the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), filed an application for judicial review in the Federal Court against the Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Nature and the Attorney General of Canada. The applicants allege that the Minister failed to comply with mandatory obligations under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act (CNZEAA) by not amending Canada's 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) after the federal government repealed, weakened, or substantially altered several of the plan's key emissions reduction measures.

According to the application, the 2030 ERP, adopted in 2022, described the federal measures intended to achieve Canada's statutory target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2030. The applicants argue that subsequent policy changes, including the elimination of consumer carbon pricing, the weakening of industrial carbon pricing, the repeal of the electric vehicle sales mandate, the cancellation of the proposed oil and gas emissions cap, delays to methane reduction requirements, and significant changes to clean electricity regulations, mean that the ERP no longer accurately describes the measures the government intends to implement and no longer provides a credible pathway to achieve the 2030 target.

The applicants rely in part on the Minister's 2025 Progress Report, which projected emissions reductions of only 21-28% by 2030 under existing and announced measures. They contend that the Minister was therefore required to initiate the statutory amendment process under the CNZEAA, which would update the ERP and trigger the public consultation process provided for under the Act. The application seeks an order of mandamus requiring the Minister to amend the ERP, or alternatively declarations that the current ERP and the Minister's failure to amend it are unlawful under sections 9(1) and 10(1)(b) of the CNZEAA.


Maltais et al. v. Minister of Environment

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Financial support to help individuals manage the effects of unexpected events, securing their livelihoods and increasing the resilience of people and businesses to the changing climate. It’s especially vital in developing regions where everyday risks, climate-related weather extremes, or crop failures can push people into poverty. Without insurance, people may have to resort to selling assets or cutting consumption to cope with losses.

Tradable permits are market-based tools that grant permission for specific activities, frequently used to regulate emissions. These permits can be issued within a trading system to manage environmental impacts.

The processes through which enterprises can identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their actual and potential adverse impacts. Due diligence is the idea that reasonable precautions should be taken to avoid causing harm to people, the environment, or society. It also involves identifying and mitigating risks before they occur.

A target to reduce the prevalence of a greenhouse gas over a specific time frame

A commitment to balance GHG emissions with removal by a certain point in time, effectively reducing the net emissions to zero

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

A potent, short-lived greehouse gas, largely released from livestock, fossil fuel extraction and waste management.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

A drought is an extended period of unusually dry weather marked by a significant and sustained lack of precipitation, falling below a specific threshold over a large area for more than a month

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

Social inclusion is the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society—improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

Social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

Maltais et al. v. Minister of Environment - application

Target

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance