Canada drops Kyoto sooner than expected
Montreal - Canada withdrew from the Kyoto treaty Monday, making it the first country to officially abandon the international environmental agreement even before it expires in 2012.
"As we've said, Kyoto for Canada is in the past ... We are invoking our legal right to formally withdraw from Kyoto," Environment Minister Peter Kent told reporters in Ottawa.
Kent's announcement comes a day after marathon climate talks wrapped up in the South African port city of Durban.
Reports in the Canadian media ahead of the Durban summit had indicated that the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper was planning to announce a formal withdrawal from the Kyoto treaty on December 23.
"The Kyoto Protocol does not cover the world's largest two emitters, United States and China, and therefore cannot work," Kent said. "It's now clear that Kyoto is not the path forward to a global solution to climate change. If anything it's an impediment."
Canada's withdrawal from the treaty adds another blow to the already weakened Kyoto Protocol, which expires in December 2012. Canada, along with Russia and Japan, had already signalled last year they would not sign up for an extension.//DPA
