Ottawa, June 13, 2005 — Two months to the day since the federal government published its plan to honour Canada's Kyoto obligation, the Pembina Institute today laid out a schedule of implementation steps for the government to take in 2005 to be credibly on track to meet our Kyoto target, which begins to apply in just two-and-a-half years' time (1).
"Now that the threat of an early election has subsided, the government has no reason not to meet the commitment it made in its Kyoto plan — to take major implementation steps in all areas of the plan before the end of 2005," said Dr. Matthew Bramley, Director, Climate Change at the Pembina Institute. "This is all the more critical considering that Canada's progress on Kyoto will be under intense international scrutiny when thousands of delegates attend the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Montréal in late November."
The Kyoto implementation schedule released by the Pembina Institute highlights timelines already included in the government's Kyoto plan, such as publication in fall 2005 of a draft regulation to limit industrial greenhouse gas emissions, and selection, also in the fall, of the first domestic and international projects to receive money from the government's new Climate Fund.
The Institute also says that to create certainty that there will be a legislative framework to address industrial emissions, the government must immediately announce its intention to add greenhouse gases to the list of substances that can be regulated under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
"Having a Kyoto plan is no guarantee of meeting the Kyoto target," added Dr. Bramley. "Canada can only say with any credibility that it expects to meet the target if implementation of the plan starts immediately and is ramped up to full scale as quickly as possible."
The Pembina Institute intends to issue regular reports during the remainder of the year on the government's progress in meeting the schedule released today. As well as watching for progress, the Institute is open to providing ideas for solutions.
The Kyoto Protocol, under which Canada must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 6 per cent below the 1990 level during 2008-12, became international law on February 16, 2005.
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For more information contact:
Contact: Matthew Bramley
819-483-6288
ext. 26.
(1) The detailed schedule, entitled "Meeting Our Kyoto Obligation: Canada's Essential Implementation Steps in 2005," is available here.