Canada has again failed to publish greenhouse gas emission regulations for the oil and gas industry. The government said it would have new rules in place by the end of 2012. After missing that target the environment minister told a House of Commons committee in March that he hoped to have the regulations ready “by mid-year.”
Environmental groups say the delay will make it harder for Canada to meet its 2020 target of reducing greenhouse gas emission by 17% below 2005 levels.
That target is a far less stringent than what Canada originally promised in the Kyoto Protocol.
Production of oil from tar sands in western Canada is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada says Clare Demerse of the Pembina Institute, an environmental think-tank. She adds that companies facing regulatory uncertainty are slow to invest in pollution reduction technology.
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