On their climate change website, Canada’s government openly admits that the actions they have proposed so far will only achieve 1/4 of the climate target they have set for themselves:
Added together, all these existing government actions are expected to reduce GHG emissions by 65 Mt by 2020. This is about one quarter of the reductions in GHG emissions needed to meet Canada’s 2020 target. The regulation of other economic sectors and the further strengthening of existing regulations over time – along with complementary measures by provinces and territories – are expected to continue this momentum.
That target, in turn, isn’t an adequate contribution to the global pursuit of decarbonization.
Note also that when they say ‘reduce GHG emissions by 65 Mt’ they don’t mean ‘reduce GHG emissions to 65 Mt below where they are now.’ Rather, they mean ‘reduce GHG emissions to 65 Mt lower than we think they would have been if we did nothing.’ Under the current plan, they still expect emissions to be higher in 2020 than they are now.
As the recent Royal Society report on the oil sands pointed out, climate change is an area where Canada’s current government has a real lack of answers.
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PO: So just to be clear, Canada is still committed to its Copenhagen commitment of reducing GH emissions to 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020.
PETER KENT: Absolutely. We are fully committed. We will continue to work toward meeting the Copenhagen commitments made by the prime minister, and to our fast-start financing commitments, $1.2 billion, for which we’re rolling out most of years two and three now, simply because it’s more effective to do it that way.