(Image source: Environmental and Energy Study Institute)

BY MIKKEL NOEL LANZKY

Canada is leaving the Kyoto Climate Protocol—an international agreement that was designed to bind nations to lowering their emission of Green House Gasses. CTV gives us the story.

“Canada, the country furthest from meeting its Kyoto targets, becomes the first to have signed on - and then pull out. The Tories argue Kyoto does not include the world’s two largest emitters, the US and China, and therefore cannot work.”

At a press conference, Environment Minister Peter Kent made the case for leaving Kyoto. Here’s CBC News.

“The Kyoto Protocol does not represent the way forward for Canada. The Durban platform is a way forward that builds on our work at Copenhagen and at Cancun. The Kyoto Protocol, as you know, originally covered countries generating less than 30 percent of global emissions. Now it covers less than 13 percent, and that number is only shrinking.”

In a column titled “Kyoto withdrawal shames us all,” Canada’s Globe and Mail writer John Ibbitson laments the government’s move.

“Canada would never meet its Kyoto Protocol commitments. It would never come close. Rather than be formally found to be non-compliant, [Canada withdrew] from the accord. Canada gave its word to the world. Canada broke its word. The final confession was as shameful as it was inevitable. No one should feel anything other than ashamed.”

The Canadian opt-out comes on the heels of a UN climate summit in Durban, South Africa, where the first steps toward a new international treaty to slow global warming were taken. The move has since drawn criticism from several countries, such as France, India, and China. Xinhua News quotes a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, who says:

“Canada's withdrawal occurred as important progress has been made on the protocol's second commitment period at the United Nations climate change conference in Durban, which runs against the international efforts.”

Some observers point out that Canada’s action reveals the weakness of international agreements – the lack of enforceable rules. Adam Vaughan, environment editor with the Guardian, says it this way:

“Canada's withdrawal is also a timely reminder that … there is no guarantee countries won't walk away from their commitments later down the line.”

Transcript by Newsy.