Ottawa quietly abandoned promise to end thermal coal exports, audit says

OTTAWA – Environment and Climate Change Canada abandoned its work on ending thermal coal exports without ever notifying the public and without any record of being directed to do so, according to a new audit.

A report from the office of the auditor general, tabled Thursday, criticized the move and pointed out that Canada is co-chair of an international alliance meant to help countries transition away from coal.

Burning coal is one of the most polluting forms of electricity generation. In 2021, Canada committed to banning thermal coal exports by 2030.

The audit found that while Environment Canada worked for three years to find a way to enforce the ban, that work stopped altogether in November 2024 after lobbying from the coal industry.

“The department did not produce evidence of an official direction to discontinue work on the ban in 2024,” the audit said.

Even the work to enforce the ban was scaled down before Ottawa ultimately gave up on it.

The audit found that between October 2021 and February 2024, Environment Canada officials were trying to use existing laws to enforce the export ban — including by regulating it as a toxic substance, similarly to what Ottawa is doing now with single-use plastics.

The audit said that by February 2024, those efforts shifted to considering non-regulatory approaches, including “voluntary measures,” though it doesn’t say exactly what those measures were.

The decision to stop the work wasn’t formalized until August 2025, when the federal government was looking for cost-saving measures, said the audit. Still, Ottawa didn’t tell the public.

“However, we also found no clear records to show that the department had provided the minister with an assessment of the implications of stopping all work on the export ban,” the audit report said.

“While the commitment had been announced internationally and noted in multiple federal strategies, the work on the ban was stopped with no public announcement.”

Thermal coal exports were higher in 2025 than they were in 2021, the audit report says.

The report criticized the government’s secrecy on the file.

“The lack of public information and updates on the government’s current approach is concerning,” it said.

“Transparency in decision making provides certainty and enables interested parties, such as provincial and territorial governments, coal mining companies, transportation authorities, shipping terminals, and the labour force to contribute to a just transition.”

The report said 61 per cent of thermal coal shipped from Canadian ports in 2025 came up from the United States, largely from Washington, Oregon and California.

The American mines send it by train north to shipping terminals in British Columbia, mainly because regulations in the U.S. make it challenging to build export infrastructure along the Pacific coast to ship to Asian markets.

Former B.C. premier David Eby suggested that Ottawa could use Canada’s role in facilitating exports of U.S. thermal coal as leverage in trade negotiations.

In August, Eby — apparently unaware Ottawa already had abandoned the work — told reporters the federal government should move faster to phase out exports of thermal coal.

Thursday’s reports from the auditor general’s office also looked into Global Affairs Canada’s role in overseeing $16 billion in commitments to international coal transition programs.

Canada committed $15 billion to the Women-Led Coal Transition Mechanism, and another $1 billion in low-interest loans to the Climate Investment Funds’ Accelerating Coal Transition investment program, which is jointly funded by Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and Denmark. That $1-billion investment made up 42 per cent of the program’s funding, the audit found.

“For Global Affairs Canada, this contribution was also one of the department’s single largest project investments ever made,” the report said.

“The program finances country‑led investment plans with projects designed to accelerate coal retirement, scale up clean energy alternatives, and mitigate socio‑economic impacts on affected workers and communities. Projects are expected to continue up to 2047.”

The audit reported Environment Canada never informed Global Affairs Canada of the decision to stop work in November 2024.

“We found that Global Affairs Canada was involved in the work on the thermal coal export ban only at the request of Environment and Climate Change Canada,” the report said.

“In accordance with its responsibilities for foreign affairs and trade policy, Global Affairs Canada provided information on the trade risks associated with potential implementation options for a thermal coal export ban.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2026.