Greenpeace in Quebec City for the Council of the Federation meeting to press premiers to sign on to KYOTOplus

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The tar sands have helped make Alberta Canada's biggest greenhouse gas polluter. With only 10% of Canada's population, Alberta is responsible for 33% of emissions.

Greenpeace activists will have banners highlighting the KYOTOplus campaign outside sessions of the council meeting Wednesday and Thursday to emphasize the need for real action on climate change to the premiers, at the Council meeting

"The federal government has failed to address climate change," said Arthur Sandborn, Greenpeace climate campaigner. "That's why we are in Quebec City pushing our KYOTOplus campaign with the premiers."

Greenpeace and partner environmental groups are spearheading the KYOTOplus campaign as a key effort in convincing Canada to support stringent new targets for reductions at the United Nations conference on climate change in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Greenpeace has developed two tables that show the greenhouse gas emissions of all the provinces and territories and the weak commitments provinces and territories have made to reductions.

Highlights from the tables include:

• No province has yet agreed to meet the KYOTOplus target for reduction for greenhouse gas emissions (a minimum reduction of 25 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020).
• Alberta is actually targeting a 31 per cent increase of emissions from 1990 levels for 2020, and Saskatchewan a 12 per cent increase.
• Other provinces are targeting emission reductions of only 10 to 15 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020. In order to avoid catastrophic climate change impacts, Canada and other developed countries need to reduce emissions at least 25 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020.
• At 234 million tonnes in 2006, Alberta remains Canada's biggest provincial contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. With only 10 per cent of Canada's population, it is responsible for 33 per cent of emissions.
• Saskatchewan has the largest per capita emissions (73 tonnes per person) and had the largest increase from 1990 to 2006 (63.4 per cent).
• Only two provinces, Québec and Manitoba, have agreed to meet their share of Canada's Kyoto commitment (6 per cent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels 2008-2012).

As part of the campaign, Greenpeace and its partners have written the premiers inviting them to sign a pledge and to push Ottawa to meet the KYOTOplus targets. All three federal opposition leaders signed the KYOTOplus pledge. Prime Minister Harper refused to sign.

Greenpeace and its partners are asking the public to sign a petition to support the KYOTOplus targets. The goal of this effort is to show Canadian politicians that the public wants real action on climate change.

During the council meeting, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall are expected to try promote a plan for carbon capture and storage as a solution to global warming to the premiers. Greenpeace rejects this approach to dealing with greenhouse gas emission.

Even if it were to work-and that's far from proven-carbon capture and storage will not be available for years. It is an expensive technical fix that is far from commercial application. Worse, the high cost of carbon capture and storage will actually prevent investment in the transition to renewable energy and a carbon-free economy, where funding is needed.

Alberta's performance on reducing greenhouse gases is already the worst in Canada. With the tar sands now being developed at a frenzied pace, Alberta's greenhouse gas emissions are expected to be at least 30 per cent above 1990 levels in 2020.

The KYOTOplus targets are in line with the urgent call from international scientists for action to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions by 2015 and then reduce them rapidly. Based on the present target of the Harper government, Canada's annual emissions would be 133 million tonnes higher in 2020 than the KYOTOplus target.