“CAN Collectibles”: CANADA
17 May 2012
Gotta Catch 'Em All!
Fast Facts About Countries That Can Increase Their Ambition in Qatar
| National Sport: | Lacrosse (bet we caught you there! Admit it, you would have wagered your copy of the Daily Programme that it was hockey) |
| Famous for: | Poutine and winter (although we're getting worried about keeping winter snowy) |
| Best things about Canada: | Our widely heralded reputation as a friendly, green giant |
| Worst things about Canada: | We no longer deserve our widely heralded reputation as a friendly, green giant |
| Something you didn't know: | We're officially getting rid of our 1 cent coin, the penny |
| Something else you didn't know: | Vancouver's overall emissions will be cut 80% by 2020 (from 1990 levels) |
| Existing unconditional pledge on the table: | None, we’ve given our national sovereignty over to the Americans – call us the 51st state! |
| Existing conditional pledge (upper end): | 17% below 2005 by 2020 – conditional both on the USA taking action and on the Canadian government actually having a plan to meet even this weak target |
| Next step to increase ambition by COP18: | Announce and implement ambitious GHG regulations for the oil and gas sector. Couple with implementation of loopholefree regulations on coal emissions and announce a comprehensive, crosscountry plan to meet our existing target, and then beat even that |
| Rationale: | GHG emissions from the tar sands will account for a doubling in Canadian emissions growth between now and 2020, but are unregulated & subsidised |