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Canada & the Climate Change Conference (Bali)

June 17
Feds under fire over Kyoto Protocol in court and at UN
(National Post) OTTAWA — The Harper government is fighting off challenges in court and at the United Nations for allegedly not meeting its obligations under the international Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
… Over the weekend, UN officials also summoned Canada to explain whether it was in violation of a reporting requirement of the Kyoto Protocol that allows countries to keep track of emissions and whether a country is meeting its targets.
May 28
Canada serious about environment, Harper tells skeptical Europe
(CBC) Dogged by continuing questions over the Maxime Bernier resignation, Prime Minister Stephen Harper stopped off in Bonn, Germany, Wednesday to tell a United Nations biodiversity conference that Canada is serious about environmental protection. [Must read: From the German point of view: Canada’s hypocritical stance on climate change]
Harper is on the second day of a three-day tour of Europe, with environmental issues at the centre of the agenda. Most European countries are wary of Canada’s mixed record on the Kyoto Protocol for greenhouse gas emissions, with far more political and public support for reductions in Europe than is generally found in this country.
Speaking to UN delegates in Bonn, Harper said Canada was the first industrialized country to ratify a biodiversity treaty in 1992, and that this country took a varied approach to environment protection, involving all sectors of society, and not just government.
CBC’s chief political correspondent, Keith Boag, travelling with the prime minister, said there was little about the address that was new in policy terms.
“The speech was really just a once-over-lightly about how beautiful Canada is,” Boag said.
Federal Environment Minister John Baird, who is with Harper, dismissed accusations Wednesday that Canada isn’t doing enough to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Baird said the Canadian government actions include regulating big polluters, a hydrogen initiative in B.C., encouragement of carbon capture and storage efforts, an electricity grid between Ontario and Manitoba and support for tidal power generation in the Maritimes.
Harper calls for action on biodiversity loss
BONN, Germany — Prime Minister Stephen Harper told a United Nations group meeting here that more must be done to prevent some species of plants and animals from forever disappearing.
“We must do more if we are to achieve our 2010 objectives of a significant reduction in the rate of worldwide biodiversity loss,” Mr. Harper said in a speech Wednesday. “As heirs to this natural endowment, we understand that it is merely on loan, passed on to us from previous generations to safeguard for ones to come.”
But environmental activists who have been monitoring the United Nations Conference on Biological Diversity in Bonn, Germany, say Canada has been blocking progress towards a tough new agreement on issues as varied as protecting forests and changing agricultural practices to protect unique flora and fauna.
Environment Minister John Baird, who was also here to speak to the conference, defended his government’s negotiating position.
“I think Canada has a played a very constructive role,” Mr. Baird told reporters travelling with the prime minister.
Divisions over climate change loom at Western meeting
CALGARY - Canada’s Western premiers are headed into three days of meetings hoping to bolster a growing economic partnership — but they are fiercely divided over how best to tackle environmental consequences such as climate change.
The federal Conservative government and at least half the provinces — including Western partners British Columbia and Manitoba — support a cap-and-trade emissions system as the best way to reduce carbon dioxide.
May 26
G-8 ministers promise carbon reductions by 2050
Environment ministers of the Group of Eight industrialized nations pledged to cut emissions of gases blamed for global warming by half by 2050 and called on rich countries to lead the way.
May 23
Harper to tout green plan on European tour
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper leaves for a whirlwind tour of Europe on Monday night where he’ll meet the Queen and talk about being green. Harper will touch down in France, Germany, Italy and Great Britain during his three-day trip and meet the leaders of each of those countries. The prime minister will give key speeches in Bonn to a global biodiversity conference and in London to a business audience. Officials with the Prime Minister’s Office say he plans to speak about Canada’s plans to combat climate change.
On Tuesday morning, he will speak to the ninth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, a conference attended by thousands of delegates from more than 100 countries. Environment Minister John Baird will accompany Harper to this conference. After that, the prime minister will attend a luncheon hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel followed by a private meeting with her.
May 19
Baird calls climate change the ‘defining issue of my generation’
(Hill Times Q&A with L. Ian Macdonald) Canada’s Environment Minister John Baird says there is no national consensus on what action needs to be taken with respect to global warming. But it’s time to do something. (Subscription required) Oh my! What a change from past pronouncements. Does anyone remember the Climate Change meeting in Bali? Do we assume that the Harper government is learning from its previous mistakes (Rona Ambrose et. al.)?
May 16
Latest Greenhouse Gas Data Shows Canada’s Emissions Decreased in 2006
Total greenhouse gas emissions in Canada in 2006 were about 721 megatonnes, which is a decrease of 1.9 per cent from 2005 levels. Greenhouse gas emissions in 2006 were 22 per cent above the revised 1990 total and almost 30 per cent above Canada’s Kyoto target of 558 megatonnes.
The decrease in emissions is due primarily to a reduction in emissions from electricity production (reduced coal and increased hydro and nuclear generation) and from fossil fuel production (as a result of fuel switching and less oil being refined), as well as reduced demand for heating fuels because of warmer winters in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
May 13
MINISTERS BERNIER AND BAIRD APPOINT CHIEF NEGOTIATOR AND AMBASSADOR FOR CLIMATE CHANGE
The Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Honourable John Baird, Minister of the Environment, today announced the appointment of Michael Martin as Chief Negotiator and Ambassador for Climate Change, effective immediately.
The appointment of a senior assistant deputy minister at Environment Canada as Chief Negotiator and Ambassador for Climate Change demonstrates the commitment of the government toward real global action on climate change.
May 7
Baird Welcomes Appointment of New Environment Commissioner
OTTAWA, ONTARIO–(Marketwire) - Canada’s Environment Minister John Baird, today welcomed the announcement by Auditor General Sheila Fraser of the new Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Mr. Scott Vaughan.
March 10
Government Delivers Details of Greenhouse Gas Regulatory Framework
The Government of Canada today published details of the Turning the Corner regulatory framework originally announced on April 26, 2007. The documents, posted to Environment Canada’s website, provide additional details about how the Government of Canada will move forward with its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
This plan includes mandatory reductions for industry, along with additional new measures to address two of Canada’s key emitting sectors: oil sands and electricity.
April 14, 2007
Canada and the environment - Gored on climate change
The world’s media missed Al Gore’s recent lambasting of Canada’s plan to reduce its soaring greenhouse gas emissions
By Felix von Geyer in Montréal
Blatant criticism of a developed world’s government by a foreign statesman is seldom heard.
Yet Al Gore’s speech at the Green Living Show in Toronto 28 on April contained exactly that.
This just some two days after federal Environment Minister, John Baird, finally released the ‘Turning the Corner” plan of Stephen Harper’s Conservative government to reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions that comprise half of Canada’s total.