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Canada is to formally withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol on
climate change, the first nation to pull out of the treaty,
the environment minister has said.
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 that 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,"
Mr Kent told reporters.
The right-of-centre 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 (€10.33bn) 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 Mr Kent.
Environmentalists were quick to criticise the decision.
"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.
Mr Kent did not give details on when Ottawa would pull out
of a treaty - which, 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 recognised 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.
Mr 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 per cent below 1990 levels
by 2012. By 2009, emissions were 17 per cent above the 1990
levels, in part because of the expanding tar sands development.
Mr 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 per cent
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 said.
Source - The Irish Times
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