Canada among three G20 countries least likely to hit emissions targets

OTTAWA – A report card on global climate action says Canada's plan to meet its greenhouse-gas emissions targets is among the worst in the G20.

Climate Transparency today is grading all the countries in the group of 20 with large economies on their climate performance and finds none of them has much to brag about.

It says Canada, South Korea and Australia are the farthest off meeting targets to cut emissions that are insufficient anyway.

The report says Canada is among the leaders in getting rid of coal power but is a laggard on a number of fronts, including energy use and emissions from cars and buildings.

Today's report says Canada has four times the G20 average for emissions per person from transportation and has more than twice the average emissions from buildings.

The G20 nations account for 85 per cent of global economic activity and produce 80 per cent of all emissions, putting the onus almost entirely on them to reduce emissions to prevent catastrophic impacts of climate change.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 11, 2019.