Is Canada meeting the targets set by the Kyoto Protocol?
Canada ‘s greenhouse gas emissions have increased significantly since 1990, the benchmark year for greenhouse gas emissions. Although some important actions have been taken in the last decade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions primarily by industries, other factors have caused an overall increase. This means carbon dioxide emissions would have been even higher, had these reductions not been made. The actual volume of emissions for the country is now about 726 million tonnes of greenhouse gases per year. The emissions goal for Canada under the Kyoto Protocol is 571 million tonnes. This represents 6 per cent less than the amount of carbon dioxide that Canada emitted in 1990. It means the government must make overall reductions 21 per cent from today’s total to meet the targets agreed to in the Kyoto Protocol. If no action is taken – the “business as usual” scenario — the emissions for the year 2010 are predicted to be 809 million tonnes annually. In Ontario there has been a similar patt
