"Canada Quits Kyoto Treaty
Canada's withdrawal deals a symbolic blow to the already troubled global treaty.
- Tue Dec 13, 2011 11:15 AM ET Content provided by Michel Comte, AFP (2) Comments | Leave a Comment
THE GIST
- Canada has withdrawn from the Kyoto protocal, dealing the treaty a blow.
- The Kyoto protocol, adopted in 1997, is the only global treaty that sets down targeted curbs in global emissions.
- Canada's decision reflected the reality of Canada's rising greenhouse gas emissions.
A Greenpeace activist dressed in a polar bear costume demonstrates in front of Parliament Hill to call on Canada's minority Conservative government to meet its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, in Ottawa on Jan. 29, 2007. Click to enlarge this image.
Corbis
Corbis
Canada's historic decision to withdraw from the Kyoto protocol provoked heavy criticism from China on Tuesday, with Beijing saying the move went against international efforts to combat climate change.
Canada on Monday became the first country to declare it was formally exiting the pact, a reversal that will save it billions of dollars in fines, and poured scorn on the landmark treaty for hampering attempts to tackle pollution.
The decision reflected the reality of Canada's rising greenhouse gas emissions.
The Kyoto protocol, adopted in 1997, is the only global treaty that sets down targeted curbs in global emissions, but those curbs apply only to rich countries, excluding the United States, which refused to ratify the accord.
"We are invoking Canada's legal right to formally withdraw from Kyoto," Environment Minister Peter Kent said after returning home from a marathon UN climate conference in South Africa, at which nations agreed to a new road map for worldwide action.
"Kyoto is not the path forward for a global solution to climate change," Kent said. "If anything, it's an impediment.
"A new agreement with legally binding commitments for all major emitters that allows us as a country to continue to generate jobs and economic growth represents the path forward."
But China, the world's largest carbon emitter, hit out at Canada, with foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin describing Ottawa's decision as being "against the efforts of the international community," and "regrettable."
"We hope Canada will face up to its responsibilities and obligations, honor its commitments and actively participate in relevant international cooperation against climate change," Liu told a regular media briefing in Beijing.
China has always insisted that as a developing country it should be exempt from binding obligations on emissions.
Japan, meanwhile, said Canada's withdrawal was "disappointing," and noted that it was "indispensable that each country makes efforts" on climate change.
"I hope Canada will address the issue in a forward-looking manner," Japan's Environment Minister Goshi Hosono told reporters.
Canada agreed under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce CO2 emissions to 6.0 percent below 1990 levels by 2012, but its emissions of the gasses blamed for damaging Earth's fragile climate system have instead increased sharply.
Saying the targets agreed to by a previous Liberal administration were unattainable, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government last year unveiled its own measures aimed at curbing emissions, in line with US efforts.
Pulling out of Kyoto now allows Canada to avoid paying penalties of up to $13.6 billion for missing its targets.
Kent also cited major impacts on Canada's economy that will be avoided by withdrawing from the treaty.
"Under Kyoto, Canada is facing radical and irresponsible choices if we're to avoid punishing multi-billion-dollar payments," Kent said, noting that Canada produces barely two percent of global emissions.
"To meet the targets under Kyoto for 2012 would be the equivalent of either removing every car, truck, ATV, tractor, ambulance, police car, and vehicle of every kind from Canadian roads or closing down the entire farming and agricultural sector and cutting heat to every home, office, hospital, factory, and building in Canada."
For Kyoto supporters, the anticipated Canadian pullout was expected to be a symbolic blow and badly damage a UN climate process already weakened by divisions.
Last week at the UN climate conference in Durban, South Africa, Kent had already said that Kyoto was "in the past" for Canada.
The conference on Sunday approved a road map towards an accord that for the first time will bring all major greenhouse-gas emitters under a single legal roof.
Kent said that in the meantime, Canada would continue to try to reduce its emissions under a domestic plan that calls for a 20 percent cut from 2006 levels by 2020, or as critics point out, a mere three percent from 1990 levels.
The latest data last year showed that Canadian carbon emissions were currently up more than 35 percent from 1990."
http://news.discovery.com/earth/canada-quits-kyoto-111213.html
LONDON (Reuters) - Canada still has a legal obligation under United Nations rules to cut its emissions despite the country's pullout from the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N. climate chief said on Tuesday.
Christiana Figueres also said the timing of Canada's move, a day after a deal to extend the protocol was clinched at a U.N. summit in South Africa, was regrettable and surprising.
Canada on Monday withdraw from Kyoto, dealing a symbolic blow to the treaty, with environment minister Peter Kent breaking the news just after his return from talks in Durban.
"Whether or not Canada is a party to the Kyoto Protocol, it has a legal obligation under the (U.N. framework on climate change) convention to reduce its emissions, and a moral obligation to itself and future generations to lead in the global effort," Figueres said.
Canada, a major energy producer which critics say is becoming a climate renegade, has long complained Kyoto is unworkable because it excludes so many significant emitters.
Industrialized countries whose emissions have risen significantly since 1990, like Canada, remain in a weaker position to call on developing countries to limit their emissions, Figueres said.
"I regret that Canada has announced it will withdraw and am surprised over its timing," Figueres said in a statement.
On Sunday, more than 190 countries agreed to extend Kyoto for at least five years and hammered out a new deal forcing all big polluters for the first time to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Kyoto's first phase, due to expire at the end of next year but now extended until 2017, imposed limits only on developed countries, not emerging giants such as China and India. The United States never ratified it.
The Canadian government said it 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.
"DESPAIR"
China and Japan said on Tuesday that Canada's decision was regrettable and called on it to continue to abide by its commitments on climate change.
Closer to home, reactions were divided. Mexican Environment Minister Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada asked Kent to reconsider his decision, saying the withdrawal could create "despair" among countries.
"What the world needs now is to work on a system of global cooperation to meet the objectives that give a message of hope to humanity, especially those who are currently suffering the impacts of climate change," he said.
Todd Stern, the U.S. special climate envoy, said Canada's decision should have little impact on negotiations on a future pact that would include binding cuts on developed and developing countries.
"I don't think it's going to have a big impact on the shape of a new regime and the nature of the new negotiations," Stern told reporters on Tuesday.
Figueres said the Durban agreement to a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol is essential "for the new push towards a universal, legal climate agreement in the near future".
(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner and Valerie Volcovici in Washington, Editing by Alessandra Rizzo and Dale Hudson)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/13/us-climate-canada-idUSTRE7BC2BW20111213
By IAN AUSTEN
https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=FIDEIIUS+Kyoto&pbx=1&oq=FIDEIIUS+Kyoto&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=2229l4951l0l6614l14l11l0l0l0l0l187l1253l5.6l11l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=57dea815af53583c&biw=1024&bih=656
Canada on Monday became the first country to declare it was formally exiting the pact, a reversal that will save it billions of dollars in fines, and poured scorn on the landmark treaty for hampering attempts to tackle pollution.
The decision reflected the reality of Canada's rising greenhouse gas emissions.
The Kyoto protocol, adopted in 1997, is the only global treaty that sets down targeted curbs in global emissions, but those curbs apply only to rich countries, excluding the United States, which refused to ratify the accord.
"Kyoto is not the path forward for a global solution to climate change," Kent said. "If anything, it's an impediment.
"A new agreement with legally binding commitments for all major emitters that allows us as a country to continue to generate jobs and economic growth represents the path forward."
But China, the world's largest carbon emitter, hit out at Canada, with foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin describing Ottawa's decision as being "against the efforts of the international community," and "regrettable."
"We hope Canada will face up to its responsibilities and obligations, honor its commitments and actively participate in relevant international cooperation against climate change," Liu told a regular media briefing in Beijing.
China has always insisted that as a developing country it should be exempt from binding obligations on emissions.
Japan, meanwhile, said Canada's withdrawal was "disappointing," and noted that it was "indispensable that each country makes efforts" on climate change.
"I hope Canada will address the issue in a forward-looking manner," Japan's Environment Minister Goshi Hosono told reporters.
Saying the targets agreed to by a previous Liberal administration were unattainable, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government last year unveiled its own measures aimed at curbing emissions, in line with US efforts.
Pulling out of Kyoto now allows Canada to avoid paying penalties of up to $13.6 billion for missing its targets.
Kent also cited major impacts on Canada's economy that will be avoided by withdrawing from the treaty.
"Under Kyoto, Canada is facing radical and irresponsible choices if we're to avoid punishing multi-billion-dollar payments," Kent said, noting that Canada produces barely two percent of global emissions.
"To meet the targets under Kyoto for 2012 would be the equivalent of either removing every car, truck, ATV, tractor, ambulance, police car, and vehicle of every kind from Canadian roads or closing down the entire farming and agricultural sector and cutting heat to every home, office, hospital, factory, and building in Canada."
For Kyoto supporters, the anticipated Canadian pullout was expected to be a symbolic blow and badly damage a UN climate process already weakened by divisions.
Last week at the UN climate conference in Durban, South Africa, Kent had already said that Kyoto was "in the past" for Canada.
The conference on Sunday approved a road map towards an accord that for the first time will bring all major greenhouse-gas emitters under a single legal roof.
Kent said that in the meantime, Canada would continue to try to reduce its emissions under a domestic plan that calls for a 20 percent cut from 2006 levels by 2020, or as critics point out, a mere three percent from 1990 levels.
The latest data last year showed that Canadian carbon emissions were currently up more than 35 percent from 1990."
http://news.discovery.com/earth/canada-quits-kyoto-111213.html
Canada, out of Kyoto, must still cut emissions: U.N.
Analysis & Opinion
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - Canada still has a legal obligation under United Nations rules to cut its emissions despite the country's pullout from the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N. climate chief said on Tuesday.
Christiana Figueres also said the timing of Canada's move, a day after a deal to extend the protocol was clinched at a U.N. summit in South Africa, was regrettable and surprising.
Canada on Monday withdraw from Kyoto, dealing a symbolic blow to the treaty, with environment minister Peter Kent breaking the news just after his return from talks in Durban.
"Whether or not Canada is a party to the Kyoto Protocol, it has a legal obligation under the (U.N. framework on climate change) convention to reduce its emissions, and a moral obligation to itself and future generations to lead in the global effort," Figueres said.
Canada, a major energy producer which critics say is becoming a climate renegade, has long complained Kyoto is unworkable because it excludes so many significant emitters.
Industrialized countries whose emissions have risen significantly since 1990, like Canada, remain in a weaker position to call on developing countries to limit their emissions, Figueres said.
"I regret that Canada has announced it will withdraw and am surprised over its timing," Figueres said in a statement.
On Sunday, more than 190 countries agreed to extend Kyoto for at least five years and hammered out a new deal forcing all big polluters for the first time to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Kyoto's first phase, due to expire at the end of next year but now extended until 2017, imposed limits only on developed countries, not emerging giants such as China and India. The United States never ratified it.
The Canadian government said it 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.
"DESPAIR"
China and Japan said on Tuesday that Canada's decision was regrettable and called on it to continue to abide by its commitments on climate change.
Closer to home, reactions were divided. Mexican Environment Minister Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada asked Kent to reconsider his decision, saying the withdrawal could create "despair" among countries.
"What the world needs now is to work on a system of global cooperation to meet the objectives that give a message of hope to humanity, especially those who are currently suffering the impacts of climate change," he said.
Todd Stern, the U.S. special climate envoy, said Canada's decision should have little impact on negotiations on a future pact that would include binding cuts on developed and developing countries.
"I don't think it's going to have a big impact on the shape of a new regime and the nature of the new negotiations," Stern told reporters on Tuesday.
Figueres said the Durban agreement to a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol is essential "for the new push towards a universal, legal climate agreement in the near future".
(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner and Valerie Volcovici in Washington, Editing by Alessandra Rizzo and Dale Hudson)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/13/us-climate-canada-idUSTRE7BC2BW20111213
"Canada Announces Exit From Kyoto Climate Treaty
By IAN AUSTENPublished: December 12, 2011 "
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/science/earth/canada-leaving-kyoto-protocol-on-climate-change.htmlhttps://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=FIDEIIUS+Kyoto&pbx=1&oq=FIDEIIUS+Kyoto&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=2229l4951l0l6614l14l11l0l0l0l0l187l1253l5.6l11l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=57dea815af53583c&biw=1024&bih=656
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