Canada and Kyoto

Canada signed the Kyoto Protocol in December 2002, committing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions six per cent below 1990 levels by 2012. However, successive governments failed to reduce emissions, and by the end of 2006, Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions were 29 per cent higher than our Kyoto target for 2012. Unless urgent action is taken, Canada will break its promise and not meet its Kyoto commitment.

The Harper government, elected in January 2006, says the Kyoto Protocol is “unachievable.” It claims, incorrectly, that reducing greenhouse gas emissions would result in “economic disaster”. According to the former chief economist of the World Bank, Sir Isaac Stern, the cost of ignoring climate change will be 20 times higher than preventing it.

However, sensing the concern of Canadians about global warming, the Harper government introduced its so-called Clean Air Act in October 2006, and in 2007 proposed its “Turning the Corner” plan, with regulations introduced in March 2008. This plan is far too weak, and far too late. The KYOTOplus campaign calls for a minimum greenhouse gas reduction of 25 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020. By comparison, the Harper government plan (20 per cent reduction from 2006 levels by 2020) would leave Canada 133 million tonnes short of the KYOTOplus commitment and less than 3 per cent below 1990 levels. The Harper plan would barely achieve in 2020 the reduction levels that Canada promised the world we would meet for 2012 – eight years after the 2012 Kyoto deadline.

Harper’s plan also falls short of the commitments of other countries. Germany has committed to a 40 per cent reduction from 1990 levels by 2020. The European Union as a whole will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 30 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

The Harper government has also embarrassed Canada in front of the world. In 2007, the government tried to block progress on a new post-Kyoto agreement at meetings of the Group of Eight (G8), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Commonwealth. In December 2007, the Harper government joined the United States in trying to undermine post-Kyoto negotiations at the United Nations climate conference in Bali. The United Nations is already investigating Canada for its lack of progress on the implementation of its commitment under the Kyoto Protocol.

Despite widespread criticism, the Harper government did not improve its position. Canada’s international position on climate change needs to be changed in time for two important international events: the United Nations climate change conference in Poznan in December 2008, and the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, where the crucial decision on a post-Kyoto agreement will be made.

Canadians will be given the chance to express their concern about global warming in the next federal election, which must take place by November 2009. The KYOTOplus campaign will ensure that climate change is an important debate in the election.

Support KYOTOplus and send a message to the Prime Minister and your Member of Parliament that you want deep reductions in Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions -- reductions that go beyond the Harper government’s current commitments.

Act now for the future.