Environment Minister Peter Kent arrives at the United Nations climate summit in Qatar this weekend with a target on his back, representing the only government that has withdrawn from the Kyoto Protocol and taken a hard line on the need for emerging-market countries to make binding commitments to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
In an interview before leaving Ottawa, Mr. Kent made it clear that Canada would not deviate from its contentious path or sacrifice economic growth to cut emissions. “We are taking our obligations seriously,” he said. “But we are balancing our obligation and engagement on climate change with sensitivities to the realities of Canada’s still-recovering economy, job creation and job growth, and we will continue on that course.”
Global environment ministers and leaders arrive in Doha for the second week of a conference that aims to reinvigorate flagging international commitment to the battle against climate change, even as many developed countries struggle to emerge from economic crises.
In the run-up to the meeting, UN officials have been warning that the world is running out of time to take the action needed to avoid catastrophic climate change, and new studies show that polar and Greenland ice masses are melting and sea levels rising more quickly than had previously been expected.
Read more: Canada won’t budge on environment, Peter Kent insists - The Globe and Mail
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