8 International Influencers
Canada has been and continues to be influenced by international regulations and regulators and treaties. Influence can be driven by harmonization for trade agreements or we simply borrow a good idea. Sometimes the influence is so large that the international standards appear in Canadian regulations.
United States
The United States (US) is a very important trading partner for Canada. We import and export many goods from the United States. Some goods like autos are produced with a complicated supply chain that can cross three countries (Mexico, United States and Canada). For autos it is important to have consistent standards, so the manufacturing is simplified. This holds true for air emissions standards.
We can find US rules referred to in Canadian law. See for example: the federal regulation Passenger Automobile and Light Truck Greenhouse Gas Emission Regulations, SOR/2010-201. US Regulations are cited in Section 11 and qualified in Section 3. Section 3 makes specific mention of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), and what does not apply in Canada. We are not subject to US rules, but the standards do apply as they are referred to in Canadian regulations..
US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA)
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) is an iconic regulator. They have many standards that are used across different countries. But it is confusing because there are other Environmental Protection Agencies and EPA also stands for Environmental Protection Act.
So, a good practice outside of the United States is to refer to the EPA as the US EPA. The US EPA writes and enforces regulations authorized by the US Federal Government. The regulations are found in the US Code of Federal Regulations.
US Code of Federal Regulations (US CFR)
In the United States at the federal level legislation is written into a code called the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The Code is divided into “titles” and represents all the areas of the U.S. Federal government through its agencies and executive that they regulate. There are 50 titles in the Code. Title 40 and Title 49 often have environmental references.
An example of a US citation is Title 40, chapter I, subchapter C, part 86. This is the US regulation for “Control of Emissions from New and In-use Highway vehicles and Engines”.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (United States)
The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is part of the United States Department of Commerce (NOAA, n.d.) and has an incredible depth of resources. Is it properly classified as a regulator? Possibly not. It is concerned with research, weather forecasts and climate change. It is an incredibly useful resource. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, n.d.)
My favorite is the hurricane weather map. Try it at:
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo.php?basin=atlc&fdays=2
National Aerospace and Space Administration (NASA) (United States)
National Aerospace and Space Administration (NASA) has significant climate change research objectives including a number of research satellites tasked with climate related measurements. They have significant climate data accumulated from these satellite missions. (NASA, n.d.)
My favorite is the Mars Lander. Nothing to do with Earth, but one of their experiments is to make oxygen from the Mars atmosphere. That’s cool.
Second favorite is the NASA photo of the day. See it at the NASA website. (NASA/Stephanie Plucinsky, 2022)
International
Although of course the United States is international, there are other international organizations that influence either directly or indirectly Canadian regulations.
Arctic Council
Canada is a member of the international Arctic Council which includes all states that have land in the Arctic. The Arctic Council purpose is to encourage coordination between member states (The Arctic Council, n.d.). According to the Government of Canada website “In 2017, the eight Arctic Council states also committed to the aspirational goal of reducing collective emissions of black carbon by 25–33% of 2013 levels by 2025.” (Canada, n.d.)
Aspirational goals are not legally binding but represent a desire. They may not be backed by methodology or plans to achieve the aspirational goal.
The chair of the Arctic Council rotates through the member countries. As of 2022, Russia is the chair and given the current state of Russia’s aggression, the future of the Arctic Council is in question. Meetings have been suspended for an indefinite time period (Arctic Council, 2022)
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
The IUCN is the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This is a union of both governments and societies. They work in partnerships to produce resources to help address selected environmental issues including climate change. (IUCN, 2022)
IUCN Red List
Possibly the most well known is the IUCN Red List of threatened species. It is a world guide to threatened species and is exceptionally comprehensive. It is not legally binding on Canada. (IUCNRedList, 2022)
Section Conclusion
Solid environmental regulations have to be based on solid environmental information. No matter how nationalistic we are about “made here”. sometimes we need information that is beyond our abilities. The United States has some incredible resources that can be used to inform decisions. The United Nations has the power to bring world experts together, so these are influential bodies.
Learning Questions
- Why would entities from the United States be included in a realtor section?
- Do the US Entities have any authority in Canada?
- Why would NOAA be so influential in Canada?
References
Arctic Council. (n.d.) Home page. Retrieved on September 30, 2022 from https://www.arctic-council.org/
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). (2022). Home page. Retrieved on September 30, 2022 from https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/cfr/
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). (n.d.) Explore earth page. Retrieved on October 3, 2022 https://www.iucn.org/
International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List (IUCN Red List). (2022) Home page. Retrieved on October 3, 2022 https://www.iucnredlist.org/
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). (n.d.). Earth. Retrieved on October 3, 2022 from https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/index.html
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). (n.d.). Home page. Retrieved from https://www.noaa.gov/
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). (2022). Atlantic 2-Day Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook Retrieved on September 30, 2022 from https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo.php?basin=atlc&fdays=2
Passenger Automobile and Light Truck Greenhouse Gas Emission Regulations, SOR/2010-201
Title 40, chapter I, subchapter C, part 86
United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). (n.d.). Home page. Retrieved on October 1, 2022 from https://www.epa.gov/
