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Celebration of Kyoto Protocol
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| KAIROS: Canadian
Ecumenical Justice Initiatives |
Toronto Environmental Alliance
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| Media Release | Location: Outside the head office of Imperial Oil, 111 St. Clair Ave. W (east of Avenue Road) |
(Toronto) Today in Toronto, environmental and faith organizations celebrated the Kyoto Protocol coming into effect as part of a global effort to combat climate change. They thanked ordinary Canadians for supporting Kyoto and called for real action from Canadian governments and industry to meet their international obligations and reap the benefits of cutting pollution here at home.
“This is a great day for the planet and Canadians should take real pride in being a part of this first step in the global fight against climate change,” said Joy Kennedy of KAIROS, an inter-church group that has long advocated for Kyoto ratification. “It was ordinary citizens who pushed their government to make this international commitment, in the face of a massive campaign by some of Canada’s biggest polluters to keep us out of Kyoto, and we wanted to say ‘thank you’.”
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement that enters into legal force today. It requires Canada to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by six per cent by 2012. Improved public transit, more fuel-efficient cars, green power sources like wind turbines, and increased energy efficiency could help Canada achieve its Kyoto targets, as well as improve public health, create new jobs and cut energy costs.
“Canadians have a right to expect that their governments will honour our commitment to reduce the pollution that causes smog and climate change,” said Keith Stewart of the Toronto Environmental Alliance. “Some of Canada’s biggest polluters are still trying to wriggle out of doing their fair share to reduce emissions. We are here to remind both industry and government leaders that we expect Canada to have a real plan to meet our Kyoto targets by cutting pollution here at home, rather than overly relying on ‘emissions trading’ schemes to purchase pollution credits from other countries.”
The celebration was held in front of the Imperial Oil headquarters. Imperial Oil is the Canadian branch of Exxon-Mobil, the largest oil company in the world, that has led and helped to finance the lobbying campaign against the Kyoto Protocol. In recent years, KAIROS has attempted to dialogue with Imperial Oil and has led a shareholder action campaign by Canadian churches to urge the company to take action on climate change.
After the celebration in front of Imperial Oil, the groups went to the Ministry of the Environment headquarters to deliver a letter to the Ontario Minister of the Environment Leona Dombrowsky inviting her to join them in calling on the federal government to develop a comprehensive action plan on climate change and identify how Ontario could play a leadership role.
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For more information, contact Keith Stewart at the Toronto Environmental Alliance, (416) 596-0660 (w) or 647-272-5024 (cell), or Joy Kennedy, KAIROS, (416) 463-5312 ext 222.
This is one of a series of cross-country events sponsored by
the Climate Action Network to mark this historic occasion as the
Kyoto Protocol comes into force. The Climate Action Network - Canada
is composed of more than 100 organizations across Canada working
to protect the environment from harmful human interference in the
atmosphere resulting in climate change.
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