Stephen Harper’s government accused of using accounting tricks to take credit for emission declines
Canada’s claims of progress on meeting its carbon targets do not add up, according to an independent analysis published on Wednesday.
In August, the government said it was halfway to its 2020 emissions goal of a 17% cut on 2005 levels, but the analysis – the first to date – says Canada’s cuts amount to one-third at best.
“They’re [Canada] just playing with numbers to pretend they’ve actually done something to reduce their emissions,” said Marion Vieweg, a policy analyst working with the Climate Action Tracker (CAT), an independent science-based assessment that tracks the emission commitments and actions of countries.
The Canadian government is taking credit for the emissions declines caused by the 2009 recession and the energy trend away from coal to gas, Vieweg told the Guardian from Bangkok at the close of the latest UN climate summit.
“There is no information in their reports about their policies that are actually driving emission reductions.”
