Canada's Role in the Kyoto Accord

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Canada’s Role in the Kyoto Accord
The Kyoto Protocol is a binding international agreement, which began in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. As of June 2013, there were a total of 192 parties participating in the Kyoto Protocol, Canada was no longer one of them. Canada was one of the first to sign the agreement, in 1998; more than 4 years later, Canada formally approved the Kyoto Accord, in 2002 ("CBC.ca - Timeline: Canada and Kyoto"). This meant Canada would have to decrease its emissions, by 6% in comparison to 1990 levels (461 Mt), by the year 2012. Despite some efforts, Canada failed to meet these requirements and in fact increased total emissions by roughly 24% by the year 2008. Canada formally withdrew from the Kyoto Accord in 2011, avoiding penalties and future detriments ("CBC News in Depth: Kyoto"). The withdrawal of Canada from the Kyoto Protocol was a good decision, the decrease in emissions was an unattainable goal, considering the cost, time, unfairness, dependency and technological advancement.
The Kyoto Protocol was created to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that are affecting Earth. The project is extremely expensive and lacks effectiveness. The protocol may benefit the world in the far future, but it is not worth a country going poor. Also, if tackling the issue involves the cooperation of our entire earth, developing countries should not be excluded. The Kyoto Protocol raises many concerns, and if something is going to impact our economy so greatly, it should not raise any concerns and should be foolproof. In order to demonstrate the lack of effectiveness, the economic consequences must first be discussed.
Over the years, in attempt to achieve its goal, Canada spent an enormous amount of money towards reducin...

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...ot the solution. In order address this issue, everyone needs to be on board and there needs to be a clear, definite plan as to how we will work together to make lower carbon emissions a reality, because it’s possible.

Works cited
"CBC News In Depth: Kyoto." Cbc.ca, 2007. Web. Nov 2013. .
"CBC.ca - Timeline: Canada and Kyoto." Cbc.ca, 2011. Web. Nov 2013. .
"Canada's Kyoto Protocol Targets and Obligations." Climatechange.gc.ca, 2010. Web. Nov 2013. .
"Greenhouse gas emissions." Conferenceboard.ca, 2013. Web. 3 Dec 2013. .
Torrie, Ralph, Richard Parfett and Paul Steenhof. Kyoto and Beyond. Ottawa: 2002. E-book.

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