The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was in Canada to meet with Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. The Leaders committed to further deepen our climate, environmental and energy engagement, working towards the establishment of a Green Alliance between the EU and Canada, in order to grow climate-neutral, circular and resource-efficient economies in the coming decades.

As reported by the European Commission, during von der Leyen's visit, the Leaders drove progress on shared and urgent priorities, including combating climate change, accelerating clean innovation, pursuing energy security and sustainable economic growth. They committed to explore how Canada and the EU can enhance collaboration to advance low-carbon manufacturing, including steel and aluminium, through bilateral and multilateral fora.

Prime Minister Trudeau also welcomed the European Commission's intention to work to participate in the Global Carbon Pricing Challenge, an initiative launched by the Prime Minister at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, which aims to triple the percentage of global emissions covered by carbon pollution pricing to 60% by 2030.

Leaders reiterated their shared commitment to create good jobs, ensure energy security and lead on clean energy; and ensured the security of supply of critical minerals and related value chains, both essential to build a net zero and digital economy. The EU and Canada have close cooperation in this area, notably through the Canada-EU Strategic Partnership on Raw Materials. This collaboration is helping to create new trade and investment opportunities, while supporting higher environmental and social standards and building research and innovation partnerships.

The Leaders visited Li-Cycle, a leading Canadian lithium-ion battery recycler that is creating a secondary supply of critical battery materials to meet increasing demand in North America and Europe. Together, Canada and the EU are building a stronger, strategic alignment on the full product cycle of clean technologies and other advanced manufacturing and recycling sectors.

Energy security and green hydrogen

Energy security in Europe remains a common objective as Russia continues to use energy as a political and economic weapon. Recognizing the essential role that clean hydrogen will play in decarbonizing our economies and in meeting global energy needs, the Leaders agreed to work together to lay the foundation for the development of reliable hydrogen supply chain between Canada and the EU as well as to develop common approaches to standards and the certification of hydrogen. They also expressed their strong intention to collaborate further on hydrogen and announced an enhanced Canada-EU action plan to advance the commercialization of the hydrogen industry and develop transatlantic trade.

The Leaders also committed to continuing to collaborate through the Canada-EU Working Group on Energy Transition and LNG that they announced in March 2022. This Working Group is developing sustainable medium-term solutions on key resources and energy that Canada can supply to the EU like hydrogen and critical minerals, as well as the global supply of resources like LNG.

They also committed to continuing collaboration under the Canada-EU High Level Energy Dialogue to reduce methane emissions from the oil, gas and coal sectors, thus implementing the Global Methane Pledge and the Joint Declaration from Energy Importers and Exporters adopted at COP27.