August 8, 2003 - After the federal government adopted the Kyoto Protocol last December, Canadians could be forgiven for thinking that the issue had been solved, that the country was united in its quest to reduce the emissions responsible for climate change.
Unfortunately, that assumption would be wrong. Groups that lobbied against the climate treaty in the first place, like the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), simply changed course and are now hard at work trying to make sure industry targets are marshmallow soft - even if that means sticking it to taxpayers.
CAPP lobbied hard against the Kyoto treaty, making outrageous claims about how reducing greenhouse gas pollution would cripple Canada's economy and send us spiraling back into the stone age. Of course, few people really believed their claims, especially when oil companies like BP have been reducing their emissions and turning a profit. But CAPP, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein and companies like Imperial Oil are very influential. They want to make sure the oil industry has to do as little as possible to meet Kyoto, and their efforts appear to be working.
The whole purpose of Kyoto is to reduce the emissions that are causing climate change. It's just the start of much bigger reductions that will be necessary to prevent global warming from seriously disrupting our environment, economy and quality of life. Canada has agreed to reduce emissions to six per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.
The problem is, the petroleum industry has already increased emissions by 50 per cent since 1990. Recently, Prime Minister Chrétien sent a letter to CAPP, indicating that the industry will only be required to reduce emissions intensity, not actual emissions. That means that pollution from the petroleum sector could skyrocket, but as long as the industry is a little bit more efficient at polluting, then it will be off the hook.
Now, if the petroleum industry is allowed to increase emissions, and the country's goal is to decrease emissions overall, then other sectors of society will have to take up the petroleum industry's slack. That means other industries and citizens will have to make bigger reductions. What's more, Mr. Chrétien's letter asserts that if the petroleum industry finds that meeting their weak targets becomes too expensive, the federal government will cover any additional costs. In other words, taxpayers will subsidize the industry to allow it to pollute more. This hardly sounds like a fair and equitable plan.
The federal government is making some good strides. For example, the recent federal budget included $1.7 billion dedicated to a climate change initiatives. But details on how this money will be spent have not been fully released and there are indications that some of the money could go towards one of the most polluting forms of energy - tar sands.
Getting oil out of Alberta's tar sands is an expensive, dirty business. Even the conservative magazine The Economist recently all but panned the tar sands as a viable source of energy in the near future, arguing that "economics will ensure that most of the oil trapped in the tar sands never sees the light of day." Of course, that argument assumes CAPP and the Canadian government do not come up with some subsidization scheme that enables the industry to turn a profit at the expense of taxpayers, the environment and future generations.
Prime Minister Chrétien did the right thing by adopting Kyoto. But the petroleum lobby has just begun the fight to make sure the industry gets away with ever-increasing pollution levels. And it appears to be winning. Let's hope Canadian taxpayers and the federal government fight back because we cannot afford to give the petroleum sector a free ride at the expense of the rest of Canadian society.
To discuss this topic with others, visit the discussion forum.