Climate Spin for Canada's Conservative Government

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Yesterday the World Wildlife Fund and German insurance giant Allianz SE, ranked Canada the second to last in the G8 group of nations for its lack of effort to curb greenhouse gases emissions. Today the Canadian government is defending itself. In reaction to the WWF report, Gerry Keller, a spokesperson for the Minister of the Environment stated that:

The WWF said Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions trends are going up and that emissions have increased. Yet for the last two years on record, Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions have in fact gone down.” [my emphasis]

That would be very reassuring news, but unfortunately Mr. Keller’s comment is little more than an attempt to shift the conversation away from the long-term projections that show Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise in the years ahead.

Yes, there was a very slight downturn in emissions over the last few years as illustrated in this graph here:

Click to enlarge.

But the Government of Canada’s own report on the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Outlook to 2020 paints a much bleaker picture. The report finds that:

“Emissions [of greenhouse gas] grew by 9.5 per cent from 1990 to 1995. Following a slight dampening of this growth to 2000, attributable largely to the impact of initiatives, the trend in emissions is steadily upward. By 2010, emissions are projected to be 105 megatonnes (19 per cent) higher than in 1990. By 2020, they are projected to be 203 megatonnes (36 per cent) higher. [my emphasis]

In 2000 Canada emitted 610 meqatonnes of greenhouse gas, by 2010 Canada will emit 669 megatonnes and by 2020 Canada will emit 767 megatonnes.

I’m no math genius but to me those numbers appear to increase over time.

The Harper Conservatives would like the citizenry to think that everything is just ducky on the climate front, but the reality is that buying their PR spin and attempts at redirection will only lead to more of the same inaction we’ve come to expect from this government.

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Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmogBlog.

He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning.

Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks.

Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder.

Prior to DeSmogBlog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health.

In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications.

Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.

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