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The Kyoto Protocol officially starts today: February 16, 2005. But what is Canada’s plan to meet our targets? Sure, we have the One-Tonne Challenge to help ordinary Canadians do their share, but this is only one part of the puzzle. CBC’s web site has some good introductory material about Kyoto and the plan drafted by the government in 2002. Unfortunately, this plan has remained at the “draft” stage and has yet to be implemented in any way.

There was an interesting segment on CBC radio today where they interviewed MP David Anderson (former Minister of the Environment when we ratified Kyoto) and MP Stéphane Dion (current Minister of the Environment). Mr. Anderson was fairly candid and sounded disappointed that the plan his Ministry had created had yet to be acted upon. He cited opposition by other MP’s with links to industry, as well as oil-producing provinces - no surprises there.

Mr. Dion - who took the call from his car phone, such a stellar example to us all - spoke about a new “enhanced plan” to be announced in the following weeks. He was very cagey on the details and constantly changed the subject when asked about oil companies or increased fuel taxes. He did speak about voluntary agreements with automakers to increase fuel efficiency standards, as well as mandatory targets for the country’s largest emitters (around 700 in number).

I’m not too heartened by what I heard. “Voluntary” agreements from companies that have systematically reduced average fleet fuel efficiency since the early 1990’s? These guys simply cater to the mainstream consumer drive, which is bigger, bigger, biggest. Fuel taxes are the way to go, since companies and consumers alike will always respond to cost. It’s no secret that European cars are more efficient and that their pollution is significantly lower - look at their gas prices and you’ll begin to see why.