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UN slams Canada for poor climate change record
WASHINGTON — As nations continue to increase their carbon emissions, pumping billions of tonnes into the atmosphere, the world is unlikely to meet its target of keeping temperature rises below the critical 2-C by 2020, a new UN report says.
Failure to meet emission pledges will increase the cost and difficulty of avoiding catastrophic climate change, the report states.
The most recent figures indicate that emissions are already 14 per cent higher than what is required to keep global average temperatures from rising above 2 C.
The authors expressed confidence that if countries aggressively reduce fossil fuel consumption they can still meet their pledges by 2020 with minimum cost.
Jennifer Morgan, a co-author of the report, noted in a conference call that for every dollar invested in renewable energy, the global community subsidizes fossil fuels to about five dollars.
“If the emissions gap is not closed, or significantly narrowed, by 2020, the door to many options limiting the temperature increase … will be closed,” the report states.
The authors picked out Canada as a lead laggard. Canada is on track to exceed its 2020 target of 607 megatonnes by slightly more than 110 megatonnes or about 20 per cent, according to its own reports. (A megatonne is a million tonnes.)
“So it is significantly off track right now,” Taryn Fransen, another report author, said.
Morgan added, “Canada doesn’t seem to fully grasp the risk that climate change poses to it and its people in its approach to climate change.”
Fransen noted that Canada’s National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy published a report in 2012 that concluded there is still time for Canada to meet its commitments without disrupting its economy if it moves aggressively.
The NRTEE was created in 1988 to advise the federal government on sustainable development. The Conservative government of Stephen Harper, which has aggressively promoted the expansion of the nation’s largest emitter, the oilsands, defunded the NRTEE this year.
The Harper government has claimed that Canada’s overall emissions of about two per cent are insignificant in a global perspective.
Morgan noted, however, that the Copenhagen treaty requires that industrialized countries take the lead in emission reductions, which Canada is not doing.
“It is very important that countries like Canada meet its targets not only for atmospheric reasons – I mean the need to reduce emissions in the atmosphere – but also because of the signal that it sends to others,” Morgan said. “Canada is a wealthy country. It certainly has the resources to do it.”
The fourth annual Emission Gap Report, published by the United Nations Environment Program and the World Resources Institute, says the gap between national pledges and what the world is on track to emit in 2020 has widened by about one gigatonne, or a billion tonnes, compared with last year.
Like Canada, the United States, Japan and Mexico are also on track to miss their targets. Unlike Canada, however, both the United States and Mexico are ratcheting up action on climate change. The authors noted that Mexico not only has more ambitious targets than Canada or the U.S., it is also in the process of enacting legislation to achieve those targets.
U.S. President Barack Obama last week signed an executive order that compels all branches of government to initiate national policies and regulations that will lead to reduced emissions throughout the economy and put the U.S. on track to meet its commitments.
Canada has tied its pledges to those of the U.S., which are to reduce emissions 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020. The authors expressed hope that Canada will follow Obama’s new and more stringent policy moves.
The report notes that the European Union – particularly Germany – China, India, the Russian Federation and Australia appear to be on track to meet their pledges. Australia’s ambitions, however, are low and allow it to continue to increase emissions.
The global average surface temperature rise is approaching one per cent. The report notes that even if all pledges are met they will fall short of stopping global temperatures from exceeding the critical 2-C mark. Much greater reductions of 55 per cent below 2010 levels will be required by 2050, the report states.
WASHINGTON — As nations continue to increase their carbon emissions, pumping billions of tonnes into the atmosphere, the world is unlikely to meet its target of keeping temperature rises below the critical 2-C by 2020, a new UN report says.
Failure to meet emission pledges will increase the cost and difficulty of avoiding catastrophic climate change, the report states.
The most recent figures indicate that emissions are already 14 per cent higher than what is required to keep global average temperatures from rising above 2 C.
The authors expressed confidence that if countries aggressively reduce fossil fuel consumption they can still meet their pledges by 2020 with minimum cost.
Jennifer Morgan, a co-author of the report, noted in a conference call that for every dollar invested in renewable energy, the global community subsidizes fossil fuels to about five dollars.
“If the emissions gap is not closed, or significantly narrowed, by 2020, the door to many options limiting the temperature increase … will be closed,” the report states.
The authors picked out Canada as a lead laggard. Canada is on track to exceed its 2020 target of 607 megatonnes by slightly more than 110 megatonnes or about 20 per cent, according to its own reports. (A megatonne is a million tonnes.)
“So it is significantly off track right now,” Taryn Fransen, another report author, said.
Morgan added, “Canada doesn’t seem to fully grasp the risk that climate change poses to it and its people in its approach to climate change.”
Fransen noted that Canada’s National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy published a report in 2012 that concluded there is still time for Canada to meet its commitments without disrupting its economy if it moves aggressively.
The NRTEE was created in 1988 to advise the federal government on sustainable development. The Conservative government of Stephen Harper, which has aggressively promoted the expansion of the nation’s largest emitter, the oilsands, defunded the NRTEE this year.
The Harper government has claimed that Canada’s overall emissions of about two per cent are insignificant in a global perspective.
Morgan noted, however, that the Copenhagen treaty requires that industrialized countries take the lead in emission reductions, which Canada is not doing.
“It is very important that countries like Canada meet its targets not only for atmospheric reasons – I mean the need to reduce emissions in the atmosphere – but also because of the signal that it sends to others,” Morgan said. “Canada is a wealthy country. It certainly has the resources to do it.”
The fourth annual Emission Gap Report, published by the United Nations Environment Program and the World Resources Institute, says the gap between national pledges and what the world is on track to emit in 2020 has widened by about one gigatonne, or a billion tonnes, compared with last year.
Like Canada, the United States, Japan and Mexico are also on track to miss their targets. Unlike Canada, however, both the United States and Mexico are ratcheting up action on climate change. The authors noted that Mexico not only has more ambitious targets than Canada or the U.S., it is also in the process of enacting legislation to achieve those targets.
U.S. President Barack Obama last week signed an executive order that compels all branches of government to initiate national policies and regulations that will lead to reduced emissions throughout the economy and put the U.S. on track to meet its commitments.
Canada has tied its pledges to those of the U.S., which are to reduce emissions 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020. The authors expressed hope that Canada will follow Obama’s new and more stringent policy moves.
The report notes that the European Union – particularly Germany – China, India, the Russian Federation and Australia appear to be on track to meet their pledges. Australia’s ambitions, however, are low and allow it to continue to increase emissions.
The global average surface temperature rise is approaching one per cent. The report notes that even if all pledges are met they will fall short of stopping global temperatures from exceeding the critical 2-C mark. Much greater reductions of 55 per cent below 2010 levels will be required by 2050, the report states.
