Canada Sued for Abandoning Kyoto Commitment

Canada Sued for Abandoning Kyoto Commitment



May 2007 -   Friends of the Earth Canada 
today filed a lawsuit against the Government of Canada for forsaking its 
international commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. 
Filed in Federal Court in Ottawa by the environmental law firm Sierra 
Legal, the lawsuit alleges the federal government is violating Canadian 
law by failing to meet its legally binding commitments to reduce 
greenhouse gas emissions. 
"Because climate change is the most urgent crisis ever facing the planet, 
Friends of the Earth is resorting to the courts to require the federal 
government to respect its Kyoto promises," said Friends of the Earth 
Canada Chief Executive Officer Beatrice Olivastri. 
The lawsuit is an application for judicial review and alleges that the 
government’s failure to effectively regulate greenhouse gases is likely to 
violate the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, 
and its Kyoto Protocol. 

The coal-fired Grand Lake-4 power plant in New Brunswick shown emitting 
greenhouse gases. 
This violation of international law contravenes section 166 of the 
Canadian Environmental Protection Act, which states that Canada must abide 
by its international agreements in preventing pollution, the lawsuit 
alleges. 
On April 26, the Conservative Government led by Prime Minister Stephen 
Harper announced its "Turning the Corner" climate change strategy which 
set greenhouse gas reduction targets from industry and other sources to 20 
percent below 2006 levels by 2020. 
This would leave Canada approximately 39 percent off target with Kyoto in 
2012 and would not achieve the Kyoto target until 2025, if at all, said 
Olivastri. 
As a Party to the Kyoto Protocol, Canada is legally bound to reduce its 
emissions of a basket of six greenhouse gases by six percent below 1990 
levels by the end of 2012 - an annual target of 563 megatonnes of 
greenhouse gases. 
Figures submitted by Environment Canada Friday to the UNFCCC show that in 
2005 Canada's greenhouse gas emissions exceeded its Kyoto target by far, 
although they did not increase over 2004 emissions. 
"Greenhouse gases are still over 32 percent higher than our Kyoto target," 
said Environment Minister John Baird. 

Environment Minister John Baird, a first-time Member of Parliament, was 
elected to the House of Commons in 2006. 
The data show that Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2005 were 747 
megatonnes, Mt, representing an increase of 25.3 percent over the 1990 
level of 596 Mt, a 0.3 percent increase from 2003, and no increase from 
2004. 
The nearly flat growth in emissions from 2003 and 2005 was primarily due 
to a "significant decline in emissions from electricity as well as a 
reduced demand for heating fuels due to warmer winters," said Baird, whose 
government took office in 2006. 
A reduced rate of increase in fossil fuel production contributed to this 
low growth in emissions, he said. 
"The slowdown in greenhouse gas growth appears to have been the result of 
action taken by the provinces to reduce coal-fired and increase nuclear 
and hydro-electricity generation," said Baird. 
Canada's 2005 report shows that emissions from the transportation sector 
continued to increase. 

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been in power since February 
2006. 
Friends of the Earth objects to the "Turning the Corner" plan's exemption 
of industry from hard caps on greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, the plan 
sets "intensity-based" targets based on units of production. 
Intensity targets mean companies must reduce the amount of emissions used 
to produce their individual products, but they do not have to reduce 
emissions overall. If a company increases its production, its total 
emissions can rise. 
"While the government talks about "Turning the Corner," in reality it has 
made a serious wrong turn that will affect the lives of generations to 
come," Olivastri said. 
"Canadians expect the Government of Canada to live up to its domestic and 
international commitments to combat global warming, and our environmental 
laws require it to do so," says Sierra Legal lawyer Robert Wright. "Our 
government shouldn't have to be asked to put on a credible and lawful 
climate change cap." 
"The federal government has a legal duty to Canadians and the world to 
make demonstrable progress in reducing greenhouse gases under the UN 
agreements, and to work with all Canadians to adapt to impacts of climate 
change," says Christine Elwell, Friends of the Earth Canada campaigner. 
"Instead, we see important programs dismantled, terminated and slashed," 
said Elwell, "all part of the pattern of Kyoto denial by the federal 
government." 
On Thursday, Baird exempted from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 
greenhouse gas emissions from the first Canadian oil refinery to be built 
since global warming became a concern. 
Irving Oil plans to build a C$7 billion dollar, 300,000 barrel per day 
refinery adjacent to its existing refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, 
already the largest in Canada. 

The Irving Oil Refinery at Saint John, New Brunswick 
The existing Irving refinery is among the top 25 greenhouse gas emitters 
in the country at 3.3 million metric tons of the greenhouse gas carbon 
dioxide per year. 
The gasoline from the new refinery is to be marketed in the northeastern 
United States. Six out of 10 cars on the road in Boston are already fueled 
by gasoline refined in Saint John. 
"We are appalled that Minister Baird does not plan to have Environment 
Canada assess the impacts of the new Irving refinery’s emissions on global 
warming and smog," said David Coon, policy cirector of the Conservation 
Council of New Brunswick. 
"The carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides will cross provincial and 
international boundaries, one of the triggers for a federal environmental 
assessment," said Coon. "Clearly, the federal government has legal 
obligations for the impacts of increased greenhouse gas emissions on 
global warming." 
On April 27, Baird told a CBC reporter that the Irving’s new refinery 
"will provide great economic benefits for the province, a lot of jobs, a 
lot of hope, a lot of opportunity will be created with that. If we didn’t 
have an intensity-based system [for regulating greenhouse gas emissions] 
that wouldn’t be able to go ahead." 
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency says the proposed scope of 
the environmental assessment would be restricted to the potential impacts 
of the construction of a pier and breakwater to load gasoline and 
petroleum coke onto ships for export and the unloading of crude oil from 
supertankers. 
The public has until June 30 to comment on the proposed scope of the 
federal environmental assessment at: http://www.ceaa.gc.ca/index_e.htm 
Baird said Friday that the initiatives being taken by the Harper 
Government "will stop the increase of greenhouse gas emissions by 2010 and 
no later than 2012 and achieve an absolute reduction of 150 megatonnes of 
greenhouse gases by 2020." 
"This plan will also cut air pollution from industry in half by 2015," 
said Baird. 
But that pledge does not satisfy Friends of the Earth Canada. "The remedy 
we seek is clear," said Olivastri, "Canada must comply with our 
environmental laws and live up to our domestic and international 
commitments to combat global warming."    

       
      

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