A Common-Sense Approach to Climate Change

December 05, 2007

This week at the United Nations climate change conference in Bali, Canada’s Conservative Government will once again take a strong leadership role in calling for a truly global agreement that compels all of the world’s major emitters to do their part to overcome the challenge of climate change.

This kind of strong leadership starts at home. That’s why the Conservative Government is implementing a plan to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020.
As part of this plan, the Conservative Government will implement mandatory emissions targets on industry, raise the fuel efficiency standards on cars and light trucks, and improve energy efficiency standards for products ranging from commercial appliances to light bulbs.

A proud, confident Canada is now taking this leadership to the world stage because this government recognizes that, without similar action from the world’s largest emitters, any global agreement on climate change is meaningless. This was the approach we saw from the failed agreements of the past. Turning a blind eye to major developing-world emitters might make for good politics, but when it comes to actually reducing global emissions, this kind of approach is certain to fail.

The Liberal Party is no stranger to past failures. For 13 years the Liberals refused to act on climate change and allowed greenhouse gas emissions to rise nearly 33% above their own committed targets.

This government has developed a realistic plan that will deliver on the environment and for the economy. In short, a plan that delivers for Canadians by taking a common sense approach to climate change. One such example is our Renewable Fuels Bill introduced on December 3. This legislation, if passed, will require an average of five per cent renewable content in gasoline by 2010. This alone would reduce greenhouse emissions by approximately 4 mega tonnes per year, the equivalent of taking approximately one million vehicles off the road. However, this legislation would do more than just clean up our environment and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, it would also greatly benefits Canada’s farmers who produce much of the renewable fuel content, such as ethanol. In fact, nearly 2 billion litres of ethanol per year will be required to meet this new standard using domestic sources.

This is the approach our Conservative government is taking, and will continue to take. We’ve introduced a comprehensive plan to address the environmental challenges facing Canada and the world and have invested over $3.6 billion dollars into our numerous ecoENERGY Initiatives to help Canadians use energy more efficiently, boost renewable energy supplies and develop cleaner energy technologies. To learn more how you can be more energy efficient and what programs are available to help, please visit http://www.ecoaction.gc.ca.

We’re taking action on the environment because Canadians expect and deserve more than just empty talk from politicians. We’ve committed to replacing Liberal talk with real action, whether on the global stage or here at home.