ACTION ALERT: Harper's emission reduction is off target!

February 2, 2010

Background information

Former Environment Minister Jim Prentice announced on Saturday, January 30th, that Canada has submitted an emission reduction commitment of 17 per cent from 2005 levels by 2020 to the UN – the same target announced by the U.S.

This new target is unacceptable.

The previous 20 per cent cut amounted to a 3 per cent reduction below 1990 levels by 2020.

The new emission target amounts to a 2.5 increase above 1990 levels (for a number of reasons Canada’s emission in 2005 were higher then 2006).

The Harper government has a pattern of announcing climate plans and then failing to implement needed measures to meet them. Leaked cabinet documents this past December indicated that they plan to allow emissions from the tar sands to increase casting doubt on the government’s ability to meet their paltry target, despite promises (click here for more information).

This is further indication that the Harper government refuses to take the climate crisis seriously. Instead, they remain committed to an energy vision based on export-oriented resource extraction and North American energy integration. Nowhere is this more explicit then in our government’s support for the ongoing development of the tar sands, the fastest growing single source of greenhouse gas emissions in our country. The majority of tar sands crude is exported to the U.S. at great cost to the social well being and health of local Aboriginal communities living with the human and ecological impacts of the development.

The weak Copenhagen Accord, which Canada has submitted its emission target for, is the product of backroom negotiations between a handful of countries led by the U.S. It is not legally binding. It does not contain mandatory deep emission cuts. Climate financing commitments are being criticized as largely smoke and mirrors with no promises that the funds are additional to existing commitments, or that they will not be dependent on carbon markets or managed by the World Bank. Neither human rights language nor the rights of indigenous peoples were recognized in the Accord. Climate mitigation options considered at Copenhagen negotiations continue to be dominated by carbon market initiatives – false solutions such as forest carbon offsets.

The Copenhagen Accord is merely “noted” under the UN because of the unwavering opposition of a number of countries including Tuvalu, Bolivia and Venezuela that remain committed to a strong international agreement. 

Further, the Copenhagen Accord represents a dangerous precedent.  It has been accused of being a means to undermine the UNFCCC process and the Kyoto Protocol which, while it has its flaws, is legally binding and contains mandatory emission reduction targets (the first phase of these targets will come to an end in 2012, agreed commitments for a second phase was supposed to emerge from the Copenhagen negotiations).

For more information on the Copenhagen negotiations, refer to:

• Goldtooth: Raising the bar after Copenhagen, Indian Country Today
  
• Council of Canadians background paper for COP15: Critical components for a strong international climate agreement
• Indigenous Environmental Network Red Road to Copenhagen Action Platform

For more information about the Council of Canadians and the Indigenous Environmental Network:

• www.canadians.org/climatejustice
• www.ienearth.org/tarsands

TAKE ACTION:

1. Call your Member of Parliament.
   - Tell them that Canada’s pledge to reduce emission 17 per cent below 2005 levels is unacceptable.
   - Tell them that this is an issue that will determine how you vote in the next federal election.
   - Demand that they publicly express their disapproval of the Harper government’s emission targets.
   To find the contact information for your Member of Parliament, visit: www.canadians.org/action/.

2. Use our draft email to Prime Minister Harper, Environment Minister Peter Kent and Party Leaders – let them know how you feel about Canada’s ongoing failure to address the climate crisis and advance climate justice:

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SEND A LETTER NOW:

Subject
Recipients	pm@pm.gc.ca; kentp@parl.gc.ca; info@liberal.ca; Layton.J@parl.gc.ca; Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca; leader@greenparty.ca
Compose your letter in the box below.
Dear Prime Minister Harper, Environment Minister Kent and Party Leaders, I join the Council of Canadians and the Indigenous Environmental Network in demanding new emission reduction targets and a climate plan that responds to the gravity of the climate crisis, transitions Canada to a green economy and advances climate justice. The new emission target amounts to a 2.5 increase above 1990 levels by 2020. In its Fourth Assessment Report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) prescribes emission reduction targets for developed countries in the range of 25 to 40 per cent based on 1990 levels. New scientific evidence indicates that climate change is happening even faster than projected, requiring even deeper cuts. Indigenous Peoples in attendance in Copenhagen were asking for 49 percent cuts below 1990 levels by 2020. The Council of Canadians joined hundreds of thousands of voices in calling for an agreement that sets the world on path to what leading climate scientists have indicated is the highest safe level of CO2 concentration in our atmosphere – 350ppm (parts per million). Canada’s pledge under the Copenhagen Accord to reduce emission 17 per cent below 2005 levels is unacceptable. The Copenhagen Accord is the product of backroom negotiations between a handful of countries. It is not legally binding. It does not contain mandatory deep emission cuts. Climate financing commitments are being criticized as largely smoke and mirrors with no promises that the funds are additional to existing commitments, or that they will not be dependent on carbon markets or managed by the World Bank. Neither human rights language nor the rights of indigenous peoples were recognized in the Accord. Climate mitigation options considered at Copenhagen negotiations continue to be dominated by carbon market initiatives – false solutions such as forest carbon offsets. The Canadian government needs to radically change course away from weak emission targets, looking to the U.S. for a climate plan and endorsing the Copenhagen Accord. The Canadian government should be developing comprehensive plans for a rapid transition to a green energy economy that advances climate justice. This includes actions such as: significant investment in energy conservation and energy efficiency, public and community owned renewable energy, plans for sustainable transportation and agriculture, just transition programmes to support workers and communities negatively impacted by the transition off of fossil fuels, rights-based resource conservation, support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, ending fossil fuel subsidies, innovative proposals to equitably realize the polluter pays principle and emission reduction targets and climate financing in line with our historical responsibility in contributing to the climate crisis. Sincerely,
Name
Email address
Address: City/town Province/territory Postal code
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