China is using Canadian think tank to fund and bolster its green image, critics say

Story by Tom Blackwell •

A coal-burning power station in China's Shanxi province. China continues to build coal-fired generating plants, though they are the biggest emitters of climate-altering carbon.© Provided by National Post

Funded by the federal government, a Canadian think tank has for four years been acting as the international secretariat for a Chinese environmental agency headed by one of Beijing’s most powerful Communist Party leaders.

Its little-known role adds to an unusual, longstanding and controversial collaboration between Canada and the Chinese government-founded agency. Touted as an advisory body for policy makers in Beijing, the council is accused by critics of being part of China’s vast global influence machine.

Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development helps carry out Canadian-led projects for the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), manages its international donations and appoints advisers, according to the council’s website.

The institute started doing the work in 2019, months after China detained two Canadians in apparent retaliation for the arrest of a Huawei executive in Vancouver, plunging relations between the nations into a prolonged deep freeze.