Canada’s environment minister Peter Kent is flying this weekend to the United Nations climate talks in Durban. An Ottawa Citizen editorial recently stated, “He shouldn’t bother.” The newspaper editorial board, better known for its conservative views, wrote, “This government has made it clear it has no interest in renewing the Kyoto Protocol, or in making an attempt to meet Canada’s existing commitments. In fact, there are reports – which Kent did not deny – that after the Durban conference winds up, Canada will formally pull out of Kyoto. There is no reason to go to a club meeting if you haven’t paid your dues and intend to quit anyway.”
The editorial concludes, “It isn’t realistic to expect Canada’s participation in this conference to move humanity closer to the goal of reducing climate change. If anything, Canada’s efforts on behalf of the oilsands might be obstructionist. If a day comes when Canada is ready to commit – really commit – to a binding and substantial agreement, it can return to the conference circuit. In the meantime, the best thing we can do for the planet is save airfare, and air-travel emissions, and stay home.”
Council of Canadians climate justice campaigner Andrea Harden-Donahue recently wrote, “The Harper government has consistently been on the wrong side at these UN climate talks. Rather than fulfill our commitments under the Kyoto Protocol and play a constructive role towards a binding international agreement that advances climate justice, our government has acted in the interests of Big Oil.”
She adds, “We need a shift at the UN climate talks. …We need countries in Durban to agree to a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol. …We need commitments to deep emission reductions that help keep temperature rise below 2 degrees and as close to 1 degree as possible. We need climate financing for Global South countries that must not be in the form of debt-creating instruments and channelled through a democratic and accountable global fund independent of other international financial institutions such as the World Bank. We need to phase out flawed market-based solutions such as carbon offsets and carbon trading and market-based approaches to forests, soil and water, large-scale geo-engineering under the UN which allow for business as usual to reign.”
In April 1998, Canada signed on to the legally-binding Kyoto Protocol, pledging to cut its carbon emissions by 6 percent below its 1990 baseline by the end of 2012. But by 2008, the calculated emissions in Canada were 31 percent above the Kyoto target. Environment Canada estimates that emission from the tar sands will triple over the next ten years, and by 2020, tar sands operations may account for 12 percent of our national emissions. It has also been reported that Alberta’s emissions are expected to increase by 58 percent above 1990 levels by 2020.
