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发帖数: 29846 | 1 (Reuters) - Canada on Monday became the first country to announce it would
withdraw from the Kyoto protocol on climate change, dealing a symbolic blow
to the already troubled global treaty.
Environment Minister Peter Kent broke the news on his return from talks in
Durban, where countries agreed to extend Kyoto for five years and hammer out
a new deal forcing all big polluters for the first time to limit greenhouse
gas emissions.
Canada, a major energy producer which critics complain is becoming a climate
renegade, has long complained Kyoto is unworkable precisely because it
excludes so many significant emitters.
"As we've said, Kyoto for Canada is in the past ... We are invoking our
legal right to formally withdraw from Kyoto," Kent told reporters.
The right-of-center Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper
, which has close ties to the energy sector, says Canada would be subject to
penalties equivalent to C$14 billion ($13.6 billion) under the terms of the
treaty for not cutting emissions by the required amount by 2012.
"To meet the targets under Kyoto for 2012 would be the equivalent of either
removing every car truck, all-terrain vehicle, tractor, ambulance, police
car and vehicle off every kind of Canadian road," said Kent.
Environmentalists quickly blasted Kent for his comments.
"It's a national disgrace. Prime Minister Harper just spat in the faces of
people around the world for whom climate change is increasingly a life and
death issue," said Graham Saul of Climate Action Network Canada.
Kent did not give details on when Ottawa would pull out of a treaty he said
could not work. Canada kept quiet during the Durban talks so as not to be a
distraction, he added.
"The writing on the wall for Kyoto has been recognized by even those
countries which are engaging in a second commitment," he said. Kyoto's first
phase was due to expire at the end of 2012 but has now been extended until
2017.
Kent said Canada would work toward a new global deal obliging all major
nations to cut output of greenhouse gases China and India are not bound by
Kyoto's current targets.
The Conservatives took power in 2006 and quickly made clear they would not
stick to Canada's Kyoto commitments on the grounds it would cripple the
economy and the energy sector.
The announcement will do little to help Canada's international reputation.
Green groups awarded the country their Fossil of the Year award for its
performance in Durban.
"Our government is abdicating its international responsibilities. It's like
where the kid in school who knows he's going to fail the class, so he drops
it before that happens," said Megan Leslie of the opposition New Democrats.
Canada is the largest supplier of oil and natural gas to the United States
and is keen to boost output of crude from Alberta's oil sands, which
requires large amounts of energy to extract.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) said all major
emitters had to agree to cuts so that Canada did not put itself at a
disadvantage.
Canada's former Liberal government signed up to Kyoto, which dictated a cut
in emissions to 6 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. By 2009 emissions were
17 percent above the 1990 levels, in part because of the expanding tar sands
development.
Kent said the Liberals should not have signed up to a treaty they had no
intention of respecting.
The Conservatives say emissions should fall by 17 percent of 2005 levels by
2020, a target that CAPP president David Collyer said would oblige the
energy sector to make sacrifices.
"It's a stretch and we'd be kidding ourselves if we said it wasn't," he told
Reuters.
($1 = 1.03 Canadian dollars) |
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