Kyoto Protocol Canada

Currently, the Canadian government is taking several initiatives to control climate change. In 2017, Canada signed the Paris Accord and agreed to cut 30% of carbon emissions by 2030.

The government responsible to take charge for this issue are global, federal and provincial. As a planet, we must coalesce with each other to find solutions to preserving the planet. World leaders are meeting with each other, discussing ways to fix the damages humans created. The government of Canada is dedicated on working with leaders all over the world to make changes that will help resolve the effects of climate change. Also, Canada is committed to supporting and helping out third world countries who need help in accommodating to the effects of climate change. Investments are being made to reduce emissions as well. The government of Canada and its provinces and territories are uniting together to encounter the effects of climate change. They aim on federal funding, the flexibility to design their own carbon pricing policies on putting a price on carbon and reducing carbon pollution.

Canadians may be doing what they can to put an end to global warming, but whether or not it is enough to make a vast change is debatable.

The following paper will provide an overview of Canada’s current climate change policy, under the Trudeau administration. Then, an overview of the climate change policy for the Trump administration will be introduced. Finally, Canada’s options in the face of these circumstances will be introduced, along with the decision that should be made for Canada’s future policy on climate change.

The Kyoto Protocol is a binding international agreement, which began in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. As of June 2013, there were a total of 192 parties participating in the Kyoto Protocol, Canada was no longer one of them. Canada was one of the first to sign the agreement, in 1998; more than 4 years later, Canada formally approved the Kyoto Accord, in 2002 ("CBC.ca - Timeline: Canada and Kyoto"). This meant Canada would have to decrease its emissions, by 6% in comparison to 1990 levels (461 Mt), by the year 2012. Despite some efforts, Canada failed to meet these requirements and in fact increased total emissions by roughly 24% by the year 2008. Canada formally withdrew from the Kyoto Accord in 2011, avoiding

Canada is also known for dropping out of the Kyoto Protocol, which included 139 parties. Canada then switched to the Copenhagen Agreement. This agreement wants Canada to cut 17% of its emissions {Meyer,2009}. 4% of emissions have been saved since signing back in 2009. This plan will not work because Canada only reduced 4% of its GHG’s in four years, there is no detailed plan to fix the average 1% decrease by 2020 or the future {Wingrove, J 2015}. Another strategy created by the government is the carbon pricing mechanism. Alberta teamed up with the Climate Control and Emissions Management Act (CCEMA) and placed a tax for carbon emissions on all Canadian Oil companies {CSA Group, 2015}. The tax is $15 per tonne and the CCEMA expects and wants a 12% decrease of oil sands GHG’s each year {CSA Group, 2015}. Canada is an oil producing company and a change like this would need time but we can switch over to less GHG emitting mechanisms {Mansbridge, P 2015}. The CCEMA plan will not be very effective because Canada has done so little to follow its rules and be effective in the past, and now we are even deeper I trouble. If the oil sands didn’t pay much attention to rules of GHG’s before, who says they are going to change now?

“The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the premise that (a)

The protocols worthy of attention from the UNFCCC are the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris agreement. The Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997 by the liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien and was passed onto Stephen Harper’s Conservative government where it was implemented in 2005 (Schiermeier, 2012). The liberal government had the target of 6% total reduction of GHG by 2012 compared to 1990 levels (Curry, 2017). The Kyoto Protocol did not include both of the world’s largest emitters: USA and China which resulted in Canada withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol by the Harper government in 2011 (Curry, 2017). Canada should not have pulled out because Russia and Japan who also disliked the commitments in the protocol tried to fix and adapt to the changes (Curry, 2017). The Harper government, infamous for its political decisions on climate change had failed to fulfill Canada’s responsibilities towards climate change. On the other hand, the Paris Agreement which wanted to control the global temperature rise below 2 °C (Shepherd, 2015) showed Canada’s resilience to take on a leadership role without the USA.

Not only that, countries submitted their voluntary plans for reducing carbon emissions with the formulation of the ‘intended nationally determined contributions’ (INDC’s). Like Ms. Figueres said “the Agreement sets an incontrovertible new direction toward a cleaner energy future”1. She also acknowledges it only represents a step into a long and hard process. Needless to say, real success will require a lot of hard work and steady efforts to take the Agreement’s spirit and vision to concrete advances.

The objective was simple: reduce emissions of six greenhouse gases, or engage in emissions trading if they maintain or increase emissions of these gases. The United States has not ratified the agreement. The Bush Administration currently explains their views on the agreement not as a direct reflection of their concern on the environment, but as a result of the strain the protocol would put on the economy and the lack of enforcement of quotas for several other nations including China and India. The United States must become a figurehead for environmental reform by addressing international issues and enforcing their quotas.

Global warming is the increase in temperature of Earth’s atmosphere, and the Kyoto Treaty was made to reduce greenhouse gases, and have the climate that all living things have come to rely upon, back on track. After decades of ongoing research and debate, scientists have not been able to figure out what causes global warming. The only conclusion that has been made is the fact that greenhouse gases emitted by humans have led to deadly consequences. Thus, 189 United Nations member states have signed an agreement aimed at combating global warming. However, some countries have not ratified the treaty, leading to political dispute over global warming.

In fact, both China and India’s emissions increased dramatically as well as the United States is ranked as the largest emitter per capita in the world. The absence of these three countries made treaty not as successful. Furthermore, the system was relatively less flexible, which could be another reason the Kyoto Protocol failed. Less flexibility is based on the concept of strictly binding commitments that would lead countries offering conservative promises that ultimately have no real impacts on combating emissions. In contrast, the nations approached with a new style of the treaty that aligns with their self-interests made deeper cooperation.

The Kyoto Protocol… insists on lowering global greenhouse gas emissions in the hope of reaching stabilization at some level, preferably one that is not too high. The basic requirement of the

Meanwhile, developed countries such as Canada and the USA would need to both reduce GHG emissions and provide developing countries with technological and financial resources for sustainable development4. The fear of economic cost related to the reduction of GHG emissions and of falling behind some rapidly developing nations, made many countries reluctant to ratify the protocol. The USA refused to sign the protocol unless developing nations like China also agreed to limit their GHG emissions5. Canada, after having ratified the treaty, later backed out, following in America’s footsteps. The Kyoto protocol does not hold much authority, so in the case of Canada backing out, no real sanctions can be applied7. In order to keep to their promises, countries must face some kind of consequence for refusing to comply with a legally binding contract such as the Kyoto protocol. Another difficulty faced by the treaty is the measuring of GHGs, these come with often high percentages of error due to their sources6. It is therefore difficult to measure emissions accurately and assess whether or not a target has been met.

As a basic description the Kyoto Protocol is a document, which legally binds all member countries that are classified as ‘developed’ to meet specific emission reduction targets. The protocol brings with it several ‘Commitment periods’, which as the name suggests are periods of time by which member states are bound to the protocol. The initial commitment period began in 2008 and ceased in 2012. The next began in 2013 and will end in 2020. Currently there are 192 member states to the protocol. It has been determined that developed countries are primarily responsible for the current elevated levels of Greenhouse gases (GHG). The Kyoto Protocol puts heavier goals on the developed countries based on the idea of differentiated but common responsibilities. The Protocol dictates that there are six primary Greenhouse gases identified as contributing the most harm to the natural environment, these being: Methane, Carbon Dioxide, Nitrous Oxide, Hydro fluorocarbons, Per fluorocarbons and Sulfur Hexafluoride (U.S. EPA, N.D.)