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Martin"The Lefty Liberal" goes cool on Kyoto
Martin goes cool on Kyoto
He distances himself from Chrétien's plan; official says Russia won't ratify agreement
By STEVEN CHASE, MARK MACKINNON, PATRICK BRETHOUR
UPDATED AT 11:58 AM EST         Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2003
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OTTAWA, MOSCOW, CALGARY -- Prime-minister-designate Paul Martin distanced himself yesterday from Canada's plan to fulfill the Kyoto accord, as a senior Russian official cast a cloud over the future of the sweeping global pact to cut greenhouse-gas emissions.
Mr. Martin, asked repeatedly whether his government will follow through on Canada's Kyoto commitments should the deal die, said Canada does not yet have an adequate plan to determine whether it can live up to its targets.
This put him at odds with Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, who drew up a Kyoto implementation plan in 2002 and said yesterday that Canada must press forward with or without Russia.
"The obligation remains the same," Mr. Chrétien said.
Both Mr. Martin and Mr. Chrétien were responding after a senior adviser to President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Russia would not ratify the Kyoto Protocol because it would significantly hamper the economy. This would effectively kill the international deal.
Russia, in essence, has a veto over the pact because it's the only country left with a big enough share of worldwide greenhouse-gas emissions for its ratification to bring into force the treaty combatting global warming.
If Kyoto is stillborn, it would mean Ottawa is not bound to its relatively onerous obligations under the pact, which demand more of Canada than most other signatories.
Mr. Martin said Canada hasn't even assembled a plan that would determine whether it can reach its Kyoto targets. The pact would force Canada to chop emissions -- largely caused by burning fossil fuels -- by as much as 30 per cent from business-as-usual levels.
"What I have said very clearly is you need a plan to determine whether in fact you can meet those targets," Mr. Martin said.
"That plan is going to determine our capacity to do so [meet targets], our ability to do so and really what are the very important steps. And we have not yet developed that plan, certainly not to my satisfaction."
His comments were a clear repudiation of Mr. Chrétien's Climate Change Plan for Canada, unveiled in November of 2002 by Environment Minister David Anderson. At the time, some provinces criticized the plan as full of holes. But $2.7-billion has already been spent by Ottawa to implement it.
Mr. Martin, who voted with the government to ratify Kyoto last December, said he still hopes to live up to Canada's commitment.
He noted that measures to fight climate change -- which often involve using less energy -- can make the economy more efficient. He said Canada needs to develop a plan that can meet targets.
"My view is when you sign an international agreement, clearly your intention should be to implement it. But the only way you can implement it is if in fact you have a plan."
Canadian business groups, which almost universally opposed Kyoto, applauded an opportunity to rethink Canada's approach.
"We just blindly signed on to some targets without fully understanding how on earth we would do it," said Nancy Hughes Anthony, head of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
She said she "certainly would hope" that Canada under Mr. Martin, who takes office Dec. 12, would not commit to the same onerous targets that Mr. Chrétien did.
Kyoto flared up yesterday after Andrei Illarionov, a top economic adviser to Mr. Putin, said in the Kremlin that the accord would handicap his country's developing economy, which is increasingly dependent on oil production.
"The Kyoto Protocol places significant limitations on the economic growth of Russia," he said. "Of course, in this current form this protocol can't be ratified."
Under the Kyoto accord's complex rules, it must be ratified by at least 55 countries accounting for at least 55 per cent of global emissions as of 1990. The United States and several other countries have already walked away from the treaty.
Mr. Anderson, a fervent defender of Kyoto, dismissed the Russian official's comments, saying the country is bargaining to extract more favourable terms.Elections for Russia's State Duma are being held this Sunday, leading Mr. Anderson and other observers to suggest that pre-vote politicking may be playing a part.
He made his comments on the same day it was announced that 13 of the 15 countries in the European Union are on pace to miss their own emission-reduction targets under Kyoto. The figures are another major blow since the EU has been the accord's biggest promoter. Delegates attending a climate-change conference in Milan, Italy, said yesterday they would nonetheless hold out hope until Mr. Putin himself says the deal is dead.
It's unlikely, however, that Mr. Illarionov was speaking without Mr. Putin's consent -- in recent months he has emerged as the Kremlin's point man on the Kyoto file. He said yesterday that it is "impossible" for Russia to consider undertaking "responsibilities that place serious limits on the country's growth."
Mr. Putin's own position on the accord has shifted of late. After indicating earlier in the year that he favoured ratification, he joked in October that global warming might be good for some of the colder parts of Russia.
A Kremlin official said before yesterday's announcement that Russia could not understand why it, a developing country, is being forced to make reductions while others such as China and India -- both much larger polluters than Russia -- are exempt from restrictions under the deal. The official denied that Russia is seeking any concessions in exchange for ratifying, and suggested that even the basic science behind Kyoto is unsound.
The deciding factor
The Kyoto Protocol establishes a double trigger for the treaty to go into force.
-The first trigger - ratification by 55 governments - was accomplished earlier this year.
-The second trigger, that the ratifying governments must include developed countries representing at least 55 per cent of the group's 1990 carbon-dioxide emissions, remains to be met.
As of yesterday 120 countries had ratified the treaty. Together, they represent 44.2-per-cent of emissions, 10.8-per-cent short of the deciding mark.
Because Australia and the U.S. have stated that they will not join the protocol, Russia's 17.4 per is essential for pushing the tally over the required 55-per-cent minimum.
SOURCE: UNFCCC
© 2003 Bell Globemedia Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Martin goes cool on Kyoto
He distances himself from Chrétien's plan; official says Russia won't ratify agreement
By STEVEN CHASE, MARK MACKINNON, PATRICK BRETHOUR
UPDATED AT 11:58 AM EST         Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2003
Advertisement
OTTAWA, MOSCOW, CALGARY -- Prime-minister-designate Paul Martin distanced himself yesterday from Canada's plan to fulfill the Kyoto accord, as a senior Russian official cast a cloud over the future of the sweeping global pact to cut greenhouse-gas emissions.
Mr. Martin, asked repeatedly whether his government will follow through on Canada's Kyoto commitments should the deal die, said Canada does not yet have an adequate plan to determine whether it can live up to its targets.
This put him at odds with Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, who drew up a Kyoto implementation plan in 2002 and said yesterday that Canada must press forward with or without Russia.
"The obligation remains the same," Mr. Chrétien said.
Both Mr. Martin and Mr. Chrétien were responding after a senior adviser to President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Russia would not ratify the Kyoto Protocol because it would significantly hamper the economy. This would effectively kill the international deal.
Russia, in essence, has a veto over the pact because it's the only country left with a big enough share of worldwide greenhouse-gas emissions for its ratification to bring into force the treaty combatting global warming.
If Kyoto is stillborn, it would mean Ottawa is not bound to its relatively onerous obligations under the pact, which demand more of Canada than most other signatories.
Mr. Martin said Canada hasn't even assembled a plan that would determine whether it can reach its Kyoto targets. The pact would force Canada to chop emissions -- largely caused by burning fossil fuels -- by as much as 30 per cent from business-as-usual levels.
"What I have said very clearly is you need a plan to determine whether in fact you can meet those targets," Mr. Martin said.
"That plan is going to determine our capacity to do so [meet targets], our ability to do so and really what are the very important steps. And we have not yet developed that plan, certainly not to my satisfaction."
His comments were a clear repudiation of Mr. Chrétien's Climate Change Plan for Canada, unveiled in November of 2002 by Environment Minister David Anderson. At the time, some provinces criticized the plan as full of holes. But $2.7-billion has already been spent by Ottawa to implement it.
Mr. Martin, who voted with the government to ratify Kyoto last December, said he still hopes to live up to Canada's commitment.
He noted that measures to fight climate change -- which often involve using less energy -- can make the economy more efficient. He said Canada needs to develop a plan that can meet targets.
"My view is when you sign an international agreement, clearly your intention should be to implement it. But the only way you can implement it is if in fact you have a plan."
Canadian business groups, which almost universally opposed Kyoto, applauded an opportunity to rethink Canada's approach.
"We just blindly signed on to some targets without fully understanding how on earth we would do it," said Nancy Hughes Anthony, head of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
She said she "certainly would hope" that Canada under Mr. Martin, who takes office Dec. 12, would not commit to the same onerous targets that Mr. Chrétien did.
Kyoto flared up yesterday after Andrei Illarionov, a top economic adviser to Mr. Putin, said in the Kremlin that the accord would handicap his country's developing economy, which is increasingly dependent on oil production.
"The Kyoto Protocol places significant limitations on the economic growth of Russia," he said. "Of course, in this current form this protocol can't be ratified."
Under the Kyoto accord's complex rules, it must be ratified by at least 55 countries accounting for at least 55 per cent of global emissions as of 1990. The United States and several other countries have already walked away from the treaty.
Mr. Anderson, a fervent defender of Kyoto, dismissed the Russian official's comments, saying the country is bargaining to extract more favourable terms.Elections for Russia's State Duma are being held this Sunday, leading Mr. Anderson and other observers to suggest that pre-vote politicking may be playing a part.
He made his comments on the same day it was announced that 13 of the 15 countries in the European Union are on pace to miss their own emission-reduction targets under Kyoto. The figures are another major blow since the EU has been the accord's biggest promoter. Delegates attending a climate-change conference in Milan, Italy, said yesterday they would nonetheless hold out hope until Mr. Putin himself says the deal is dead.
It's unlikely, however, that Mr. Illarionov was speaking without Mr. Putin's consent -- in recent months he has emerged as the Kremlin's point man on the Kyoto file. He said yesterday that it is "impossible" for Russia to consider undertaking "responsibilities that place serious limits on the country's growth."
Mr. Putin's own position on the accord has shifted of late. After indicating earlier in the year that he favoured ratification, he joked in October that global warming might be good for some of the colder parts of Russia.
A Kremlin official said before yesterday's announcement that Russia could not understand why it, a developing country, is being forced to make reductions while others such as China and India -- both much larger polluters than Russia -- are exempt from restrictions under the deal. The official denied that Russia is seeking any concessions in exchange for ratifying, and suggested that even the basic science behind Kyoto is unsound.
The deciding factor
The Kyoto Protocol establishes a double trigger for the treaty to go into force.
-The first trigger - ratification by 55 governments - was accomplished earlier this year.
-The second trigger, that the ratifying governments must include developed countries representing at least 55 per cent of the group's 1990 carbon-dioxide emissions, remains to be met.
As of yesterday 120 countries had ratified the treaty. Together, they represent 44.2-per-cent of emissions, 10.8-per-cent short of the deciding mark.
Because Australia and the U.S. have stated that they will not join the protocol, Russia's 17.4 per is essential for pushing the tally over the required 55-per-cent minimum.
SOURCE: UNFCCC
© 2003 Bell Globemedia Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
