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A version of the following letter was published in the Edmonton Journal on October 24, 2006.

October 24, 2006

Federal plans rightly panned for lack of urgency on Kyoto

Section: Letters

Lorne Gunter’s rant about the Clean Air Act and the Kyoto Protocol (Oct. 20) contained so much misinformation that it’s hard to know where to start.

Most developed nations are in fact on track to meet their Kyoto targets — contrary to Gunter’s claim. As for the countries that are finding it tougher to meet their targets, all except Canada remain fully committed to doing so.

Gunter contends that when countries buy Kyoto credits, “no allegedly dangerous emissions (are) stopped from entering the atmosphere.” This is completely untrue. All the credits issued to date by the UN have been awarded to specific emission-reduction projects in developing countries. Because the greenhouse effect is global, these projects help prevent climate impacts in Canada just as much as emission reductions achieved here.

Economists consulted by the federal government did not say that Kyoto would cost “hundreds of thousands of jobs.” The economic modelling commissioned by the government in 2002 suggested that with prompt action we could have met our Kyoto target with net benefits for both GDP and employment. And Gunter’s assertion that nature produces more CO₂ than humans is a red herring.

What matters is that human emissions have caused atmospheric CO₂ to soar more than 25 per cent above the highest naturally occurring level during the past 800,000 years.

Putting a stop to this dangerous experiment with our planet requires an urgent schedule of deep emission cuts.

The absence of such urgency from the federal plans announced last week is why they were so deservedly and widely panned.

Matthew Bramley
Director, Climate Change
Pembina Institute
Gatineau, Quebec