Canada refuses to renew Kyoto commitment

Canada has dumped its support for the Kyoto climate protocol as data show the country’s domestic greenhouse gas emissions are rising.

Canada would not renew its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol once the pact’s first commitment period expires at the end of next year, Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent said Monday.

Kent, speaking at a news briefing in Durban, South Africa, with a live phone link to Canadian media in Ottawa, said Canada’s commitment now was to the Copenhagen and Cancun agreements.

Representatives from 194 countries around the world are gathering in Durban for talks on a binding deal to extend or replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

“We believe that ultimately, a new agreement that includes all of the world’s major emitters in both the developing and the developed world is the only way to materially reduce annual megatonnage to the point that we can work to prevent global warming hitting or exceeding two degrees,” he said.

Kent also said China’s announcement it was willing to sign a binding agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions wouldn’t soften Canada’s stance on renewing Kyoto.

“We haven’t seen any detail yet. We look forward to China bringing its proposal to the conference,” Kent said. “But with regards to Canada not taking on a second Kyoto commitment period, that would not change our position.”

Echoing Kent, Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore told Parliament Kyoto simply did not work as it contained only 27 percent of the world’s emitters of greenhouse gases.

“What Canadians have asked for and what our government has led on is a true global effort to fight what is a true global problem, ” he said.

However, Opposition Leader Nycole Turmel said that, by opting out of the Kyoto Protocol, Canada was showing no leadership and would have no say in any future agreement.

She said failing to live up to the original Kyoto treaty and refusing to join a new accord would “destroy Canada’s reputation.”

Megan Leslie, an environment critic with the opposition New Democratic Party, told reporters China’s offer to reduce emissions undermined the Canadian government’s position.

“The argument that China isn’t doing anything, well, that’s gone,” she said. “I’m left to ask, What is Canada’s excuse now?”

The Kyoto Protocol currently is the world’s only legally binding treaty that requires countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that trap heat in the atmosphere.

Industrialized countries were required to reduce emissions by an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels during Kyoto’s first commitment period of 2008 to 2012 – goals that Canada will fail to meet.

The then Liberal-led federal government ratified the agreement in 2002, and the protocol has accounting, compliance and reporting measures built into its structure.

Canada’s current effort to cut harmful emissions is much lower than required to hit the targets agreed to under that deal.

The government, led by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, says it will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, while the previous government agreed to cut emissions by 6 percent from 1990 levels.

The fact is that Canada’s emissions rose by 24 percent between 1990 and 2008, according to the Conference Board of Canada.

Researchers with the Global Carbon Project say in their latest report that, in 2009, Canada emitted 690 million tones of carbon dioxide, which makes Canadians among the highest per capita emitters on the planet.

Canada agreed to cut emissions to 6 percent below the 1990 level by 2012 as part of the Kyoto Protocol, but Canada’s emissions are now 1 percent above its 1990 level, largely because of increased emissions related to extraction from Alberta’s oilsands, according to the report.