- © 2005 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors
The Kyoto Protocol to combat climate change enters into force Feb. 16, leaving Canada with the mammoth challenge of cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 20%–25% over the next 5 years.
Canada has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 6% below 1990 levels by 2010 — a reduction of 300 megatonnes per year, according to the Vancouver-based Sage Climate Project. At press time, the federal Climate Change Secretariat did not yet have a plan that accounts for that entire reduction.
Infighting among federal government departments — Natural Resources Canada and Environment Canada, with some weigh-in by Industry Canada — has meant that there is no clear lead agency and no single vision of how to achieve Canada's commitments.
“There's open warfare within the government about what it should be doing,” said one source following the file.
An intense industry lobby, led by Alberta and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, stalled initial efforts to pass a get-tough approach that would have made emission cuts mandatory. The Council argued that implementing the measures would cripple the Canadian economy and give US competitors an even greater advantage, since Washington has refused to sign the accord.
New technology will take care of the climate change problem over time, the Council argues in an April 2004 position paper.
Ottawa has been pursuing a voluntary approach, while rolling out a campaign called “The One-Tonne Challenge,” which encourages consumers to cut greenhouse gas emissions by one tonne per household. But that approach, which relies on 20% of Canada's total reductions to come from consumers, versus only 15% from industry, ignores the reality that 700 oil and gas producers, electricity stations, mines and manufacturers produce 50% of Canada's emissions.
The voluntary approach has so far failed, as the Globe and Mail revealed in leaked federal documents dated Jan. 5. The document warned that “with current policy and programs, Canada is still going to be significantly off the Kyoto target.”
Environment Canada has instead proposed a plan that embraces more regulation and the use of consumer and tax incentives to change behaviour. The plan advocates market-based initiatives such as international carbon trading and investment in projects to credit Canada with reductions when emissions are tallied on a global scale. The plan also relies more heavily on renewable energy.
By contrast, Natural Resources Canada proposes offsetting the emission cuts required of industry with federal investments in energy efficiency and having Canada's forests classified as “carbon sinks” under the international rules, giving Canada credits.