* Canada will be first nation to pull out of Kyoto
* Canada government says targets were never attainable
* Critics say Ottawa has no credibility on world stage
(Adds comments, reaction)
By David Ljunggren and Randall Palmer
OTTAWA, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Canada on Monday became the
first country to announce it would withdraw from the Kyoto
protocol on climate change, dealing a symbolic blow to the
already troubled global treaty.
Environment Minister Peter Kent broke the news on his return
from talks in Durban, where countries agreed to extend Kyoto for
five years and hammer out a new deal forcing all big polluters
for the first time to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Canada, a major energy producer which critics complain is
becoming a climate renegade, has long complained Kyoto is
unworkable precisely because it excludes so many significant
emitters.
“As we’ve said, Kyoto for Canada is in the past … We are
invoking our legal right to formally withdraw from Kyoto,” Kent
told reporters.
The right-of-center Conservative government of Prime
Minister Stephen Harper, which has close ties to the energy
sector, says Canada would be subject to penalties equivalent to
C$14 billion ($13.6 billion) under the terms of the treaty for
not cutting emissions by the required amount by 2012.
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