Canada is next eco-battleground after letdown in Copenhagen

COP15 Environmentalists digesting their disappointment with the Copenhagen climate conference are already turning their attention to the next eco-battleground, urging Canada to use next year’s G8 and G20 summits to set the agenda for the next big climate conference in Mexico in 2010.

Hosting next year’s summits will increase expectations on the Canadian government to correct its image as a “laggard” on climate change, Keith Stewart, climate change program director at WWF-Canada, said Sunday.

“Canadians expect their government to do much more to try to be an honest broker, particularly in the coming year when we’re going to be the president of the G8 and co-hosting the G20,” he said.

“We know climate change is going to be a big part of these discussions, so Canada has to move from trying to do as little as possible … toward trying to help broker a deal.”

The Copenhagen conference narrowly avoided utter failure with a limited but politically saleable last-minute pact Saturday.

More than 190 countries agreed they would “take note” of the non-binding Copenhagen Accord, which will see countries list individual emission reduction targets and begin a process to send tens of billions of dollars in financial aid to poor nations to help them adapt to climate change.

The Copenhagen Accord commits the world to keeping the effects of climate change limited to less than two degrees Celsius. It also seeks to raise $100 billion annually by 2020 to help poor countries adapt to predicted global warming that is expected to bring more floods, droughts and rising sea levels.

The summit saw Canada heavily criticized in some quarters for its oilsands and its perceived reluctance to move toward deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

“We didn’t get the kind of deal we were hoping for in Copenhagen so there’s still a lot of work to be done,” said Stewart.

“They’ve agreed on a goal, which is to keep warming below two degrees, but the emissions cuts on the table right now would lead to at least three degrees in warming, so it’s clear that there’s more that has to be done,” he said. “The good thing is almost everyone recognizes more needs to be done…. But the longer we wait, the harder and more expensive it’s going to be to actually solve this problem.

“A lot of the work is going to be done through the G8 and the G20 in the lead up to Mexico next year, that’s where Canada has a role, we’re setting the agendas,” he said.

The next major United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting will be held in Mexico in late November or early December 2010. It will be preceded by a major two-week negotiating session in Bonn, Germany, in May and June.

Some environmentalists however weren’t convinced Canada would seize the opportunity afforded to it by hosting the G8 and G20 summits in Ontario.

“As chair of the 2010 G8 meeting and co-host of the next G20, Canada could be a key player in reaching a strong, binding global climate deal,” wrote Clare Demerse of the Pembina Institute, a Canadian energy and environmental think-tank, on her Copenhagen conference’s blog.

“Right now, Canada is utterly unprepared to step into that role. Avoiding a reprise of the criticism the government faced in Copenhagen will mean ending the delay and putting strong and effective policies in place well before the G8 gets underway next June.”

Ian Bruce, climate change specialist with the David Suzuki Foundation, said he believes the pressure will be on the federal government again in the coming year.

“We’ve seen Canadians come out in full force from all walks of life calling on the prime minister to take strong leadership on climate change and I believe that will continue and will only intensify as the world comes to Canada for the upcoming G8, G20 meetings.”