About COP17
Elizabeth May and John Streicker, Green Party President and Arctic and Northern Affairs critic, along with other Canadian and international Greens attended the UN climate change negotiations in Durban, South Africa (COP17) to get concrete action on climate change.
Greens pushed Canada to:
- Cancel any plans to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol and continue to negotiate in good faith;
- Support the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol as the framework for the subsequent agreement negotiated in Cancun and beyond;
- No longer obstruct and sabotage international cooperation for stronger, binding emissions reductions targets and funding to tackle climate change;
- Enact a legally-binding, national target based on science to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% below 1990 levels by 2020;
- Restore and enhance funding for renewable energy and energy conservation programs, such as the wind power sector and the home energy retrofit program;
- Place a moratorium on the expansion of fossil fuel megaprojects, such as the Alberta tar sands;
- Eliminate subsidies for fossil fuel extraction projects;
- Support the inclusion of safeguards to protect biodiversity and indigenous rights through the REDD (Reduced Emissions through Deforestation and Degradation) mechanism.
