Canada's Kyoto Withdrawal: China, Japan And Other Nations React

(Adds Japan reaction, Indian comment)

BEIJING, Dec 13 (Reuters) - China and Japan said on Tuesday Canada's decision to quit the Kyoto treaty on greenhouse gas emissions was "regrettable" and called on it to continue abiding by its commitments on climate change.

On Monday, Canada became the first country to announce it would withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. Canada, a major energy producer, has long complained that the agreement is unworkable because it excludes many significant emitters from binding action.

China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases from human activity, has long insisted the Kyoto Protocol remain a foundation of global efforts to curb these emissions causing global warming.

At recently concluded climate change negotiations in Durban, China won an extension of the protocol until 2017, but also bowed to pressure to launch later talks for a new pact that would legally oblige all the big emitters to take action.

"It is regrettable and flies in the face of the efforts of the international community for Canada to leave the Kyoto Protocol at a time when the Durban meeting, as everyone knows, made important progress by securing a second phase of commitment to the Protocol," China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a news briefing.

"We also hope that Canada will face up to its due responsibilities and duties, and continue abiding by its commitments, and take a positive, constructive attitude towards participating in international cooperation to respond to climate change."

China's state news agency, Xinhua, denounced Canada's decision as "preposterous", calling it "an excuse to shirk responsibility". It urged Canada to retract its decision so it could help reduce global emissions.

While also describing the decision as regrettable, Japan's environment minister Goshi Hosono urged Canada to stay with the pact, saying the Kyoto framework included "important elements" that could help fight climate change.

The tiny South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, one those most at risk from rising sea levels caused by climate change, was more blunt.

"For a vulnerable country like Tuvalu, its an act of sabotage on our future," Ian Fry, its lead negotiator said.

"Withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol is a reckless and totally irresponsible act," he said in an email to Reuters.

An official in India said Canada's decision could jeopardise any gains made at the Durban meeting.

Under Kyoto, poorer countries including China and India, take voluntary, non-binding steps to curb the growth of emissions while they focus on economic development, and rich nations must sign up to quantitative cuts in emissions.

The United States has refused to join the protocol and argued that China and other big emerging emitters should come under a legally binding framework that does away with the either-or distinction between advanced and developing countries. (Reporting by Chris Buckley and Sui-Lee Wee, Additional reporting by Risa Maeda in TOKYO, Krittivas Mukherjee in NEW DELHI and David Fogarty in SINGAPORE; Editing by Paul Tait)

Related on HuffPost:

Comments

[Moose Luck 99]

08:09 PM on 01/16/2012

http://www.facebook.com/NoFrakkingConsensus?ref=ts&sk=wall

[StealthBlue]

11:46 PM on 12/14/2011

How would have things played out if the U.S. had actually signed on to Kyoto instead of being the hypocrite while continuing to pollute.

[flipacoin]

08:46 PM on 12/14/2011

This article covers up the fact that Canada DOESN'T believe in the global warming...not that the 'big emitters' haven't signed on that has given them pause. They believe that temperatures drive the CO2 upward and not the other way around as ice cores have shown and Judge Burton of the United Kingdom found as one point of 13 lies/exaggerations found in the An Inconvenient Truth documentary by Al Gore. Canada believes it is SOLAR OUTPUT IS DRIVING TEMPS UP, not CO2. I say that makes sense since our solar system's other planets have shown some warming including Mars with it's shrinking icecaps. I can kick myself for not making this point yesterday when this story was fresh.

[JDINTX]

05:06 PM on 12/14/2011

As the US recovery from the '07 recession remains stalled, Canda's GDP growth continues to dwarf the moribund American economy. Rather than villify them, we'd be better off emulating their economic model than following the failed model of the EU.
Its highly unlikely this President will ever rethink any of his policies. Continuing to claim ignorance of the depth of the recession three years after assuming office will not get him far. Slavish adherence to a "green agenda" ignores the obvious; its not winning economic approach no matter how lofty the supposed goals are.

[Syllogizer]

01:40 PM on 12/14/2011

So NOW China notices? Only now does it occur to them that ""It is regrettable and flies in the face of the efforts of the international community for Canada to leave the Kyoto Protocol ..."?

Newsflash: if China had not refused to be bound by the treaty themselves, refusing any limits on their OWN emissions, this MIGHT not have happened. But refuse they did, for years.

How do you say in Chinese, "the pot calling the kettle black"?

[Slottsbacken]

10:10 AM on 12/14/2011

Urgency comes for the Mayors in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver..., how cities can reduce their impact on Climate Change - http://www.kajembren.com

[rock-n-rollinHoneyBadger]

08:46 PM on 12/13/2011

Over the last two decades no group has carried out more domestic terror acts than environmentalists. But then again why should this surprise us, liberalism and violence has always gone hand in hand since the time of the French Revolution.

[rock-n-rollinHoneyBadger]

08:40 PM on 12/13/2011

There is hope for the world. Smash the marxist agenda. Let it be known that the left lies, that is all they have. Rewitting truth and fostering angst to achieve their miserable agenda where only 1% eats while the rest lick sewer water in the gutter.

For more on this look at what life in the Soviet Union was like.

[Syllogizer]

01:42 PM on 12/14/2011

You have no clue what you are talking about. The "Marxist Agenda" is already smashed. What YOU call "the marxist agenda" is no such thing.

But most crucially, it is the RIght that is lying. They lie when they claim tax cuts for the rich stimulate the economy, they lie when they deny AGW, they lie when they claim environmentalist commit "domestic terror".

[cagog]

08:15 PM on 12/13/2011

Under Kyoto, poorer countries including China and India:
India i can understand, but china is no poor country.

[Bubblessharky]

06:58 PM on 12/13/2011

I am reading all of this gloating and self congratulatory slaps on the backs at Canada ditching its Kyoto obligations. And yet, none of them are discussing the real issue and that is we are living in a warming world with 98% of climateologists clearly convinced that it is anthropogenic in nature.

How will Canada seeking to extract its bitumen at an even faster rate than they already are going to assist address this? Or are you all a bunch of Neros cheering while Rome burns?

[Athelstane]

10:57 AM on 12/14/2011

There are still a lot of doubts about the degreee to which man's CO2 contributes to the warming, (don't disregard the recent CERN experiment) and the long term effect. Many of the cataclysms that were predicted to already be occurring.....haven't. In matters of doomsday prediction, skepticism has always been the best policy.

[Syllogizer]

01:56 PM on 12/14/2011

But ALL those doubts are artificial and politically motivated. And you are quite wrong about the predictions. They ARE already coming to pass, and EARLIER than expected. Did you really miss the droughts in Texas and the floods throughout the Gulf of Mexico coast?

[banana republican]

06:56 PM on 12/13/2011

Canada can apply the huge amount of revenue saved to fund their national health care program. Furthermore, this creates an attractive environment for the fat-cats here in the U.S. to invest their money. In won't interfere with our ability to borrow money from China to pay for our health care, and everything else.

[SpeakupNation]

05:08 PM on 12/13/2011

Wow that may be the least substantive and most idiotic comment of the day. And that says a lot.

[Athelstane]

05:31 PM on 12/13/2011

I sense you would like to say something negative about Canada's wise decision, but are too intimidated.

[Warren Yuill]

06:11 PM on 12/13/2011

Todays word of the day is substantive.

[Jim Cohoon]

03:59 PM on 12/13/2011

It is going to be interesting to watch for the 'tipping point' with regards to what Mr. Harper can get away with politically in Canada. At some point, regardless of science or ideology, Mr. Harper's attitudes and actions on the international scene are going to become so inescapably embarrassing or shameful to mainstream Canadians that it will become embarrassing even for his 'soft support' to continue to associate with him or his policies.

[Athelstane]

04:44 PM on 12/13/2011

You are assuming that the majority of nations stay on the global warming bandwagon. You know China and India will bail out of sheer self interest, and the momentum seems to be going the other way at the moment. Canada may be a trend setter.

[Jim Cohoon]

05:14 PM on 12/13/2011

All that may prove true, but the huge philosophical elephant in the room still remains: should we as individuals, our 'leaders', or our collectivity as nations approach our impact on the future as responsible adults and stewards of this planet? Or as greedy little children running amok in a candy store? Do two wrongs now make a right?

[Warren Yuill]

03:34 PM on 12/13/2011

To be fair: When the liberals signed onto Kyoto back in 97-98 the oilsands boom hadn't reached the ears of eastern Canadians yet. It was starting to gather steam, but was still just the 'oilpatch' to many easterners. It really kicked in huge back in 2001 -2002. Even crusty ol Ralph Klein said they were unprepared for what was to come.
The oilsands are a huge deposit of a rapidly disappearing commodity.

[Athelstane]

03:27 PM on 12/13/2011

There seems to be a real paucity of posters from the Warmist Wing on this thread. Are they in mourning for the death of Kyoto?

[Warren Yuill]

03:39 PM on 12/13/2011

Cue the funeral dirge