Britain’s new envoy to Ottawa says Canada still has credibility as a reliable partner on fighting climate change despite a domestic rise of greenhouse gas emissions in recent years.

Susannah Goshko, the newly arrived British High Commissioner to Canada, tells The Canadian Press the Trudeau government has shown leadership on the international stage in the fight against climate change.

Goshko says that’s because Canada has doubled its financial commitments to climate financing and raised its emissions-reductions targets, which is putting pressure on other countries.

Goshko offered the assessment in a wide-ranging interview as the United Kingdom prepares to host what is seen as pivotal United Nations climate talks in Scotland next month, known as COP26.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced criticism from his political opponents and from environmental groups during the recent federal election because Canada’s carbon emissions actually rose from 2015 to 2019, the most recent years for which data is available.

Goshko served as the senior aide to former foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, during a time when the two countries solidified their partnership in speaking out on human rights violations by China.