An investigation will be held into suspicions that the Harper government illegally registered greenhouses gas emissions with the enforcement branch of the UN Kyoto Protocol.
This revelation means that Canada might be barred from the right to trade carbon dioxide in a global market. Greece was suspended for similar reasons last month, the first such state to have been restricted.
On May 5, 2008 the government was officially notified that the enforcement branch is investigating alleged shortfalls and a missed deadline in January 2007.
The Conservatives, according to Reuters, say they have ordered a registery to be set up and that final testing should be complete by the end of the month.
Meaning, while the Europeans have been trading billions worth of emissions credits, now ready to enter into the second phase of the system, we can’t even accurately measure our emissions with the confidence of the world community.
We can’t even begin to accurately measure our emissions with the confidence of the world community.
Of course, the government is not responsible. Minister of Industry… pardon, Minister of the “Environment” John Baird blamed the previous Liberal government: “We had 13 years of backlog and I’m only one man … we’re getting it done,” he said in Ottawa.
According to AFP, Harper remarked: “The government of Canada is in the process of establishing (the registry), and has been in this process for some time.”
If our government is found to be improperly reporting emissions, the country will be excluded from global carbon trading under the UN mechanism as the world moves forward — making an already dangerous and irresponsible situation worse. But I’m sure we’ll tackle climate change on our own… right?
Well, since we’re not participating in carbon trading now, and likely won’t be while Harper is in charge, the ruling is moot anyways. Just one more issue for all Canadians to be terrible embarrassed about.
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Canada facing Kyoto probe over greenhouse gases - Reuters
Canada rapped over Kyoto registry - AFP
Photo used under Creative Commons license (Attribution 2.0 Generic), courtesy of itzafineday. Many thanks!
