It's easy to see why the Europeans don't like Canada's plan to take credit under the Kyoto Protocol for clean energy exported to the U.S.
Harder is to imagine that Ottawa ever thought it would fly. Conceived as a response to a political need rather than a scientific dilemma, it really wasn't much of a plan.
Sadly, there seems to be no other. However, now that the Europeans have issued the all-too-predictable nix, Canada has a plausible rationale for repudiating an agreement which could cost a great deal yet promises little.
And Canada should do just that, and then devise an approach that could actually do the atmosphere some good.
If Canada ratifies the protocol, as Environment Minister David Anderson still promises it will, it would be committed to producing six per cent fewer greenhouse gases by 2010 than it did in 1990. Though a commendable objective, implementation is wrinkled with subtleties.
Consider: At least 16 per cent of Canada's emissions come from energy production and distribution. When Canada exports more to the U.S., emissions within its borders rise. But when the U.S. replaces its coal with Canadian natural gas, greenhouse gas emissions continent-wide are less than they would otherwise have been.
On that basis, Canada has demanded higher limits from its Kyoto partners. The European Union rejects that argument, ostensibly because the U.S., which has its own plan to control emissions, is not party to the accord.
There is superficial logic to this. The U.S. would not be reporting to the Kyoto bureaucracy; assessing the credit Canada should receive would be guesswork. It is likely, though, that Europe, as a huge energy importer itself, would find Canada's position equally unacceptable even if the U.S. was a full Kyoto participant. After all, if exporting nations get credits, the debits logically belong to importers. One can understand the Europeans' concern, even as one deplores their myopia.
It is puzzling that Ottawa overestimated its chances of swaying the Europeans on this. Perhaps the government was so anxious to have something to sign at the June G-8 gathering in Kananaskis that it suffered a little myopia of its own.
Now, it has no further excuse for self-delusion. Forget the Kyoto Protocol. Ottawa's most planet-friendly approach today is using fiscal incentives to persuade Canadians to reduce emissions, by making more efficient use of fuel. This should have been Plan A in the first place.
Now that Plan B has failed, Canada should go to it.
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