OTTAWA — The failure of most Canadian businesses to voluntarily reduce greenhouse gas emissions shows that the Kyoto Protocol is the only credible way for Canada to address climate change, says a new study from the Pembina Institute and the David Suzuki Foundation.
"Our findings show that voluntary action taken by most of Canada's industrial firms to cut greenhouse gas emissions has been wholly inadequate," said report author Matthew Bramley, Director, Climate Change with the Pembina Institute. "By trying to force Canada out of the Kyoto Protocol, powerful business interests are asking Canadians to trust them to act voluntarily to reduce emissions. Our study shows this approach simply doesn't work."
Released today, The Case for Kyoto: The Failure of Voluntary Corporate Action, analyzed the credibility and track record of Canada's flagship program to address industrial greenhouse gas emissions. The Voluntary Challenge and Registry (VCR) is a federal government-industry partnership established in 1995 to encourage companies to voluntarily cut their emissions.
Industrial sources, including energy utilities, are the largest greenhouse gas emitters in Canada, directly accounting for 52 per cent of the country's total emissions in 2000. Ten of the VCR's top 15 emitters have all or a major part of their operations in Alberta.
"Some Canadian companies have been quite successful in cutting emissions but they have been outnumbered by companies that remain ''free riders,'" said Gerry Scott, director of the Suzuki Foundation's climate change campaign. "For example, Imperial Oil production dropped between 1990 and 2000, but their emissions went up. That's why the Kyoto Protocol, with its legally binding requirements, is so important to ensure real reductions in Canada's emissions."
A coalition of industry associations and the Alberta government are opposed to the Kyoto Protocol and are promoting the continuation of a voluntary approach to address industrial greenhouse gas emissions. They claim Canadian business has been taking significant action to deal with emissions and will continue to do so on a voluntary basis — but with no legal requirement, national target or timeline to do so.
In 1992, Canada signed an international promise to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2000. Instead of mandating reductions, the government requested voluntary compliance by industry. The result has been a 24 per cent increase in industrial emissions above 1990 levels.
"Canada has been implementing voluntary corporate action to address climate change for more than 10 years," said Mr. Scott. "This report shows this approach has failed in the majority of cases."
The report's key findings:
- The level of participation in the VCR, impressive at first sight, turns out on closer inspection to be mediocre. Out of 493 industrial emitters registered with the VCR in mid-2002, only 102 actually reported their 2000 emissions by March 31, 2002.
- There are a large number of major inconsistencies in the methodology used by firms calculating the emissions they report, and data submitted to the VCR are rarely subject to verification by independent professional auditors.
- Voluntary commitments can be altered or abandoned with ease. Two-thirds of the largest emitters are planning to keep their emissions far above 1990 levels in coming years.
- Most industrial firms reporting their emissions to the VCR have seen those emissions increase significantly since 1990, a trend worsened in many cases because of shifts to more greenhouse gas intensive activities — the opposite of what one would expect from firms making meaningful efforts to address climate change.
"Canada clearly needs the legally binding framework of the Kyoto Protocol to drive forward specific plans for a regulated domestic emissions trading system that caps total industrial emissions as well as new standards and regulations," said Mr. Bramley.
To read the report, The Case for Kyoto: The Failure of Voluntary Corporate Action, and a summary of its key findings, visit: www.davidsuzuki.org/
publications/climate_change_reports or www.pembina.org.
For more information, call:
Sarah Marchildon
Communications specialist
David Suzuki Foundation
604-732-4228, ext. 237
Gerry Scott
Director, climate change
David Suzuki Foundation
Cell: 604-727-865
Matthew Bramley
Director, climate change
Pembina Institute
613-235-6288 ext. 26, cell: 613-262-1818
