Leaked negotiating instructions show Canada set to block negotiations in Bali

December 7, 2007 - Bali, Indonesia -- A leaked federal document shows Canadian negotiators in Bali are under explicit instruction to undermine a fundamental principle of the Kyoto Protocol -- a move guaranteed to derail momentum as UN climate negotiations enter their critical final week.

The leaked instructions direct Canadian negotiators to demand that poorer nations accept the same binding absolute emission reduction targets as developed nations. Canada also clearly wants other countries to recognize that its so-called "national circumstances" entitle Canada to a weaker target.

"Canada is driving a tar sands truck right through the middle of the negotiations here in Bali," said Steven Guilbeault, Équiterre. "The Kyoto Protocol is built on the recognition that industrialized countries are largely responsible for the problem of climate change, and must take the lead in tackling it. Canada is trying to rewrite history by putting the burden of emissions reductions on poorer countries."

The approach described in the leaked instructions violates a fundamental principle of the Kyoto Protocol, that of "common but differentiated responsibilities" amongst nations for emission reductions. Kyoto requires that industrialized countries -- with their far higher per-capita emissions, per-capita wealth and share of historical responsibility for global warming -- take the lead in reducing emissions.

Although countries such as China and India need to significantly slow their emissions growth, they should not, in the near term, be subject to the absolute emission reduction targets that are appropriate for industrialized countries. Canada's per-capita emissions and wealth are about 10 times higher than India's and five times higher than China's.

"Canada is setting unfair conditions that developing countries cannot accept," said Dale Marshall, David Suzuki Foundation. "By walking away from its own Kyoto Protocol target, Canada squandered any credibility in asking other countries to take on binding targets."

Canada's lack of credibility was reinforced this week when Rajendra K. Pachauri -- chair of the Nobel-Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- said that Canada has “a government of skeptics” that “do not want to do anything on climate change.” Also this week, Canada was ranked 53rd out of 56 in a comparison of the climate change performance of the world's top emitting countries.

"Canada's irresponsible position will make Canada even more isolated on the world stage," said Emilie Moorhouse, Sierra Club of Canada. "At a time when countries like China, South Africa and Brazil are committing to do more, Canada is heading in exactly the wrong direction."

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Contacts:

Jean-Francois Nolet, Equiterre, +62-81-338-969139
Dale Marshall, David Suzuki Foundation, 613-302-9913
Emilie Moorhouse, Sierra Club of Canada, +62-81-338-969125
Matthew Bramley, Pembina Institute, +62-81-338-969113
Sarah Marchildon, David Suzuki Foundation, +62-81-338-989047
Claire Stockwell, Greenpeace, +62-81-337-949709