Paul Martin foggy on Kyoto targets

BEIJING - Questions about Canada's resolve to crack down on big polluters hang over Prime Minister Paul Martin's head like the thick smog over Beijing, where he landed to promote trade recently.

Martin came to urge China to open doors to Canadian business interests, including oil, gas and mining developers who want a bigger share of the world's fastest growing economy.

He plans to showcase a Vancouver company — Beijing's biggest supplier of natural gas engines for buses — as an example of Canadian know-how and green technology that can help China sate its huge energy appetite.

Yet as he left Japan, the birthplace of the Kyoto climate change accord, the Canadian leader failed to clear the air over whether Ottawa will relax emissions-cutting targets for large industrial polluters at home.

Martin insisted his government remains committed to the Kyoto accord, and called on all governments to put a "shoulder to the wheel" to meet promises to cut greenhouse gases.

The Kyoto accord becomes international law Feb. 16. Countries that signed on are required to meet targeted cuts in carbon dioxide and other gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

The accord calls for emissions to be cut by six per cent of 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012. Another phase of implementation kicks in beyond 2012.

Martin said the various implementation stages are a "mechanism" to help those who cannot meet their initial obligations.

Natural Resources Minister John Efford said it is "unrealistic" to expect that large industrial emitters can achieve the original target — a 55-megatonne cut in annual emissions from business-as-usual projections for 2010.

Asked yesterday if the original targets were unrealistic and might be reduced for large polluters, Martin refused to rule out adjusting Canada's requirements for that sector.

"It is true that many, many countries are behind on their targets," he said.

"There is a mechanism within the Kyoto agreement that allows people in terms of the second stage to deal with this. But the fact is that people should live up to their commitments and... should do so within the mechanisms that are provided for by the Kyoto agreement."

Japan, too, is having "difficulties" realizing its Kyoto targets, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said at a news conference with Martin. But he rejected suggestions they could not be met.

"I don't think the realization of that mechanism is impossible or unrealistic," he said, adding that economic development and environmental conservation are priorities for his administration.

Later, senior Canadian officials said Martin was merely stating a fact, and not predicting or suggesting Canada would dodge its 2012 commitment.

"It's a fact that under the protocol you can carry over obligations that are unmet at some penalty into the second phase," an official said. "What is the government's position? Canada and other nations should honour its word, should meet its commitment under the protocol and we should do so by 2012. And we're going to be bringing forward a detailed plan that will move heaven and earth to achieve just that."

He refused to say if that means easing the burden on large emitters and making up the slack with bigger targets for smaller polluters, or trading "pollution" credits with other cleaner countries.

Further details will be laid out in next month's budget, he said.

Meanwhile, Toronto reporter Danielle Zhu and cameraman David Ren, who asked for Martin's help after their visas were withdrawn by the Chinese government, have failed to have them reinstated, Canadian Press reports.

The two planned to cover Martin's trip for New Tang Dynasty Television Canada network. Both journalists belong to the Falun Gong movement, which includes exercise and meditation but is considered a cult by Beijing.