Incovenient truth

For many experts, Canada's announcement that it is quitting the Kyoto Protocol on climate change is no surprise.

"Actually this is more a recognition of something which, in practice, has been the case for a long time," said Mojib Latif, a climate researcher at the University of Kiel.

Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent explained on Monday that the decision had been taken mainly because his country would have been threatened with fines of some 14 billion Canadian dollars (10.4 billion euros, $13.5 billon), if it remained within the protocol.

"Kyoto had already failed and now the government has simply entered the last formal step. It is only logical," said Latif on Tuesday. Even before, Canada had not met its obligations.

The Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997 and, since coming into force in 2005, has remained the only legally binding climate agreement. All signatories are obliged to adhere to a deduction of their carbon dioxide emissions - in Canada's case by six percent in the year 2012 in comparison with 1990.

Emissions by the country, however, have increased significantly in the past 20 years. And, when it took power six years ago, the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper reversed the national laws on the reduction of greenhouse gases introduced by the previous Liberal government.

Poor environmental awareness

Energy policy and economic reasons were decisive in the eventual exit from the protocol. "Canada is a nation that depends heavily on the extraction of mineral resources, including oil. These industries cause the emission of large amounts of carbon dioxide," said Martin Thunert, Canada expert for the Heidelberg Center for American Studies.

The current government prefers to act in a business friendly way, rather than with a view to international solidarity. "Canada is a country with no history of colonizing other nations and therefore does not feel that it owes something to other nations," said Thunert.

A further reason may be that the USA and China, which produce more than 40 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, have not accepted the Kyoto Protocol. Considering the US position in particular, Canada was not prepared to shoulder its burden on a unilateral basis any longer.

Environment Minister Kent described the Durban talks as promising and effective. However, he said, the Kyoto Protocol had become an "impediment" in negotiating a global solution to climate change. "In the future, the Harper government is not going to endorse any climate solution that does not also oblige China, the US and India," said Thunert.

The formulation of future agreements for different industries - rather than national targets - was now central to the political debate, said Thunert.

Unilateral approach not ruled out

The importance of environmental protection as a theme in Canadian public discourse appears to have dwindled significantly in the past few years. In 2006, surveys showed that much more importance was placed on environmental issues.

At that time, the film "An Inconvenient Truth," by former US Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, was thrilling Canadian audiences. In 2011, only 13 percent of respondents said that climate change was relevant to them as an issue.

The Harper government is not focusing on unilateral agreements for the solution of global problems, according to Petra Dolata, Canada expert and assistant professor at King's College, London and a member of the German Association for Canadian Studies. Dolata believes that Canada is set on a unilateral approach to climate change policy. Industry-specific benchmarks for carbon dioxide emissions are being debated, such as those affecting Canada's tar sand business. Also conceivable would be a process of certification for the products of particular industries.

These measures, however, hardly seem adequate. Nothing more can be achieved, said Latif, if the US and China continue to obstruct each other and if industrial nations did not face up to their historical responsibility.

To stop climate change, practical action is needed to ensure that carbon dioxide emissions are halved by the middle of the century, he adds. "Kyoto was verbal acrobatics - Canada has now aggressively documented that."

Author: Johanna Schmeller / rc
Editor: Andreas Illmer