Climate Action Network Canada
Leading Canadian environmentalists attending UN climate talks in Bali cautiously welcomed the government's new acceptance of the overwhelming scientific evidence that 2°C of global warming is a threshold that must not be crossed.
In Canada's House of Commons yesterday, Environment Minister John Baird stated that "a rise of 2° in the earth's temperature as a result of human activity contributing to global warming, simply put, is unacceptable."
Based on scientific projections of catastrophic impacts at an average temperature 2°C above the pre-industrial level, many countries have adopted this limit as the definition of "dangerous" climate change. Avoiding dangerous climate change is the ultimate objective of the UN climate convention, which has been ratified by virtually every country in the world.
"Staying below two degrees is the right, science-based goal for protecting the climate," said Matthew Bramley, Pembina Institute. "The government's current emission targets are incompatible with that goal, and its current policies are even weaker. Minister Baird must explain urgently how those targets and policies will be strengthened."
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has shown that developed countries must cut their emissions by 25-40% below the 1990 level by 2020 to have a chance of limiting global warming to 2°C. In contrast, the government's targets would leave Canada's emissions above the 1990 level in 2020 and beyond. In addition, several independent analyses of federal climate policies have shown that they are too weak to meet even the government's targets.
"Bali is a critical opportunity for Canada to finally show the world that it is serious about tackling climate change," said Dale Marshall, David Suzuki Foundation. "In Bali, Minister Baird must join leading countries by committing to emission cuts deep enough to avoid the level of warming that he calls 'unacceptable.'"
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Matthew Bramley
matthewb@pembina.org
+62-81-338-969113
Dale Marshall
dmarshall@davidsuzuki.org
+62-81-338-989713
Sarah Marchildon
smarchildon@davidsuzuki.org
+62-81-338-989047
Jean-François Nolet
jfnolet@equiterre.qc.ca
+62-81-338-969139