Canada and Kyoto

Successive Canadian governments have failed to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.

Canada agreed to make significant reductions by 2012 when it signed the Kyoto Protocol.

Canada will not meet these international commitments.

Successive failure

The Liberal governments of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin did not deliver on their promised action on climate change.

The Stephen Harper government said the Kyoto Protocol targets were “unachievable” when first elected in January 2006.

Stephen Harper has made sure the targets of the Kyoto Protocol won't be achieved. Canada is now well on course to break its promise to the world.

Not even close

Instead of the promised reductions, Canada has increased greenhouse gas emissions. At the end of 2006, Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions were 29 per cent higher than our Kyoto target for 2012. Unrestricted tar sands development in Alberta will send emissions even higher.

Stephen Harper's plan - continued failure

The Harper government introduced its “Turning the Corner” plan for dealing with climate change in 2007. This plan is far too weak.

This plan calls for a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2006 levels by 2020.

The Harper plan deliberately seeks to confuse the Canadians by using 2006 as its reference year, instead of 1990, the base year for the Kyoto Protocol. Harper’s 20 per cent reduction from the 2006 level is less than 3 per cent below the 1990 level—and far less than the KYOTOplus target of at least 25 per cent below 1990 levels.

The Harper plan would not even reach our Kyoto Protocol target by 2020 -- eight years after the Kyoto deadline of 2012. The reductions, if achieved, would fall short of the KYOTOplus target by 133 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

KYOTOplus: science-based

The Harper plan has no relation to the science of global warming. It is simply an arbitrary target based on political expediency.

KYOTOplus targets are based on the advice of the international scientists associated with the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released in 2007.

The KYOTOplus targets are the minimum needed to prevent global warming and catastrophic climate change. KYOTOplus calls for developed countries to:

• Cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020
• Cut emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

The Economy Issue

The Harper government says reducing greenhouse gas emissions would result in “economic disaster”. This is incorrect.

Denmark has built a strong economy, with vibrant green enterprises and reduced its greenhouse gas emissions nine per cent from 1990 levels. That's three percentage points lower than Canada's Kyoto target.

Denmark shows what effective action can do.

A report by the former chief economist of the World Bank, Sir Isaac Stern, says clearly the cost of ignoring global warming will be 20 times higher than preventing it.

Canada's Embarrassments

Embarrassment No. 1: Canada will not meet its international commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, based on its current course.

Embarrassment No. 2: The United Nations is already investigating Canada for its lack of progress on the implementation of its commitment under the Kyoto Protocol.

Embarrassment No. 3: In 2007, the Harper government tried to block progress on a new post-Kyoto agreement. They blocked progress at:

• the Group of Eight (G8), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Commonwealth
• at the United Nations climate conference in Bali in December 2007, joining the Bush administration to undermine progress on negotiations to strengthen and extend the Kyoto Protocol

It can be done

Germany has committed to a 40% reduction from 1990 levels by 2020.

The European Union as a whole will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 30% below 1990 levels by 2020.

Make Canada a leader not a laggard on the world climate stage

Canada needs to show leadership on climate change at two major international conferences:

1. The United Nations climate change conference in Poznan in December 2008,
2. The United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen in December 2009:

The Copenhagen conference will make an historic decision on whether to strengthen and extend the Kyoto Protocol: KYOTOplus.

Copenhagen will be a turning point in the environmental history of the planet. It's essential that Canada support real action on climate change at this conference.

Canadians must put great pressure on the Harper government to stop global warming and take a leadership role at the UN conferences.

KYOTOplus is the way to apply pressure.

Take Action Now! Support action on climate change! Sign on to the petition! Ask others to sign on! Tell politicians Canada must cut greenhouse gas emissions