Canada becomes first country to pull out of Kyoto protocol

Canada 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.

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.

The right-of-centre Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which has close ties to the energy sector, says Canada would be subject to penalties equivalent to $13.6 billion under the terms of the treaty for not cutting emissions by the required amount by 2012.

Canada is the largest supplier of oil and natural gas to the United States and is keen to boost output of crude from Alberta’s oil sands, which requires large amounts of energy to extract.

Canada’s former Liberal government signed up to Kyoto, which dictated a cut in emissions to six per cent below 1990 levels by 2012. By 2009 emissions were 17 per cent above the 1990 levels, in part because of the expanding tar sands development.