Margaret MacMillan Lecture 2024

Margaret MacMillan Lecture 2024

Where Change Comes From: My Time in Politics, the Paris Agreement and the Future of Climate Action.

This year's lecture will feature Catherine McKenna, former Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. (Lecture)
7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (Post Event Reception)

Please note this event is open to Trinity Alumni, Students, Faculty, Staff and community members. The event is free but you must register to attend. If tickets sell out please get in touch with alumni@trinity.utoronto.caalumni@trinity.utoronto.ca to be added to the waitlist.

Lecture Description:

Days after being named Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna, landed in Paris and quickly found herself at the heart of the effort to secure the landmark agreement. Soon after the real battle would begin at home as she fought to deliver Canada’s first serious climate plan including carbon pricing against fierce opposition. After six years in Cabinet, she left politics and was appointed chair of the UN’s High Level Expert Group on Net Zero tasked with setting out the criteria for real net zero and calling out greenwashing. She remains what she calls a “stubborn climate optimist” but she is also a realist. In her MacMillan Lecture, she reflects on her time in politics, and what she has learned about making change happen — change she believes the world needs now more than ever.

Catherine McKenna Bio:

Catherine McKenna is Canada's former Minister of Environment and Climate Change as well as Minister of Infrastructure. She is the CEO of Climate and Nature Solutions, an advisory firm focused on scaling action and financing to tackle the climate crisis. She chaired the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero setting out criteria for net zero commitments of businesses, financial institutions, cities and regions. She is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Columbia University and launched Women Leading on Climate.

As Canada’s former Minister of Environment and Climate Change she was a lead negotiator of the Paris Agreement (Article 6 on carbon markets). She successfully negotiated Canada’s first comprehensive climate change plan including a coal phase-out and a price on carbon across Canada — a policy successfully upheld at the Supreme Court. She brought in Canada's new Impact Assessment Act for the review of major projects, led efforts to ban single-use plastics, and doubled the amount of nature protected in Canada in partnership with Indigenous Peoples. Internationally she helped establish the Powering Past Coal Coalition, the Ministerial on Climate Action and the Nature Champions Summit.

As Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, she led Canada's historic investments in public transit and green infrastructure, leveraged private sector investment in sustainable infrastructure through the Canada Infrastructure Bank, and launched Canada’s first National Infrastructure Assessment to drive to net-zero emissions by 2050.

Prior to entering politics, Catherine practiced corporate, trade and anti-trust law at leading firms in Canada and Indonesia, worked as lead negotiator on the Timor Sea Treaty with the UN Peacekeeping Mission to East Timor and founded Canadian Lawyers Abroad (now Level Justice). She is called to the Bars of New York and Ontario. She is a mother to three kids and an avid open-water swimmer.

Please contact alumni@trinity.utoronto.ca if you have any questions!