Canada is small in population, yet has the dubious distinction of being the world's 8th largest producer of carbon dioxide. Together, Canada’s energy and transportation sectors contribute the lion's  share of our greenhouse gas emissions.

When Canada formally ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2002, many saw it as a hopeful sign. After all, we have a reputation for being a model international citizen. Yet, five years later, Canada's carbon emissions continue to climb.

The federal government’s willingness to take meaningful, measurable action on global warming is deplorable. With the release of Environment Minister John Baird’s new climate change plan, 16 months after the Conservative government came to office, Canada is the first Kyoto signatory to say it will not even try to meet emissions reduction targets.

Under Baird’s plan, Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions will continue to climb for another three years, fuelled by Alberta's unchecked tar sands development. Baird says Canada will meet Kyoto targets 13 years later than promised. That represents far too many years of inaction--wasted time Canadians can’t afford.

Oil extraction from the Alberta tar sands represents Canada’s fastest rising source of greenhouse gas emissions. Extracting, upgrading and refining tar sands bitumen—a thick layer of oil mixed with clay, sand and water—generates 2.5 times as many greenhouse gas emissions as conventional oil operations. The Baird plan exempts new oil sands projects from reducing carbon dioxide emissions until projects are up and running.

Industry is responsible for about 35 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. Instead of capping industrial emissions, like the Kyoto Protocol and the European Union emissions trading system, Baird’s climate change plan introduces “intensity targets” favoured by the United States. Polluters will only have to reduce CO2 emissions per unit of output, rather than making absolute reductions based on hard caps. If production increases more than savings from energy efficiencies, CO2 emissions will rise.

Yvo de Boer, head of the international body that oversees the Kyoto treaty, says Canada’s “less ambitious” climate change plan holds no guarantees that our CO2 emissions will decrease.

It’s time for Canada to turn a different corner--and head in a new direction to help prevent catastrophic global warming.

We can spend one per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) now to combat climate change--or pay later with up to 20 per cent of our GDP in damage control, according to Sir Nicholas Stern, former head of the World Bank. Investing in climate change mitigation now will spur technological innovation and give us the edge as a leader in renewable energy and transport. If we do nothing, or not enough, we will end up paying anyway – mostly to make up for the disruption to sectors such as agriculture and forestry, which are likely to suffer most from climate change, triggering a downward spiral.

Canada must take immediate action on global warming by:

1) Joining the European Union in recognizing that, in order to prevent catastrophic climate change, industrialized nations must cut emissions 30 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050;
2) implementing Kyoto-level caps on Canada’s industrial CO2 emissions;
3) implementing California vehicle emissions standards.
4) ending government subsidies to carbon-producing industries like oil and gas and;
5) using subsidies and other incentives to support Canada’s transition to a carbon-friendly economy.

What You Can Do

Tell Prime Minister Stephen Harper, federal Environment Minister John Baird and your MP what you think about Canada’s new climate change plan.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper
pm@pm.gc.ca (phone) 613.992.4211

Environment Minister John Baird
John.Baird@ec.gc.ca (phone) 819.997.1441