In an open letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, 42 Nobel laureates implored the federal government to “act with the moral clarity required” to tackle the global climate crisis and stop Teck Resources’ proposed Frontier tar sands mine.
“The importance of leadership in the coming few years cannot be understated,” reads the letter, published Friday in the Guardian’s opinion section. “Governments are lagging scandalously behind what science demands, and what a growing and powerful people-powered movement knows is necessary.”
“There is enough carbon embedded in already operating oil, gas, and coalfields and mines to take us beyond 2°C, let alone 1.5°C,” the letter continues, referencing key temperature targets of the 2015 Paris climate accord. “The implications of this are clear: there is no room for expansion of the fossil fuel sector. There is no room for the Teck Frontier tar sands mine.”