Patricia's blog

Canada's Targets

Submitted by Patricia on Sun, 02/01/2011 - 11:21am

After refusing to abide by our legally binding Kyoto commitments, Canada twice published revised targets: Turning the Corner in 2007 and the last (unnamed?) in 2010.

The targets in 2010 were "re-calibrated" to align with the US targets. They are now 17% below 2005 levels by 2020. This is 2.5% greater than the 1990 levels which were the basis of our Kyoto commitments.

Our Kyoto target was an average of 6% below our 1990 emissions (592 Mt CO2e) during the period 2008-2012. 6% below 592 is 556 Mt.

Does Canada have a Plan?

Submitted by Patricia on Wed, 29/12/2010 - 3:04pm

A relative told me that "there is a plan with obtainable goals in place." I disagreed with that, so I am researching the plan and whether there are regulations that will achieve it.

One thing that was emphasized in Cancun was that plans need to meet Measurement Reporting and Verification (MRV) standards.

Here is my working document http://www.patriciawarwick.com/canadas-ambitious-target

Cancun, last day

Submitted by Patricia on Fri, 17/12/2010 - 3:26pm

The last day was very exhausting and exciting at the same time. The negotiations went on until around 4 am on Saturday but Adriana and I had to leave the Moon Palace at 3 am to be sure of getting to the airport for our 7 am flight.

On Friday there was supposed to be an open "informal meeting" by COP president Patricia Espinosa. She had prepared a draft text for consideration by the parties. That meeting got deferred until around 6 pm. At that time a revised and expanded version of the draft text was introduced. There was a long lineup to get a copy of this text.

Cancun, It's looking hopefull

Submitted by Patricia on Sat, 11/12/2010 - 2:40am

It's 12:30 am (Saturday) and negotiations are still going on. COP President Espinosa presented a draft text which seems to address most of the concerns of the parties and has held 2 informal meetings so far. At the meeting that was suspended at midnight every country except Bolivia congratulated her on producing such a fair text. The mood is much better than it was earlier today. No one expected an agreement that would be acceptable to nearly everyone. There are working groups in progress to see if they can persuade Bolivia to come on board.

Cancun, final hours

Submitted by Patricia on Fri, 10/12/2010 - 5:44pm

It is the beginning of the endgame (if you can call it that.) Only a few hours to go. Some members of the Canadian contingent are running a pool on when the conference will end. Any time from 6 pm tonight (the official closing time, I think) to 6 am tomorrow (or even later.)

If that happens, Adriana and I will miss it since our flight back leaves at 7 am and we need to leave our hotel around 5 am.

Cancun, carbon emissions for our trip from Toronto to Cancun

Submitted by Patricia on Thu, 09/12/2010 - 5:17pm

After much soul searching, Adriana decided that we should travel as far as possible by land. We originally intended to travel the whole way by land but the Canadian government issued a travel advisory to avoid crossing the US-Mexico border by land due to problems with Mexican drug cartels.

We decided to take the bus to Miami, fly from there to Cancun and back, and then the bus home. Subsequently we decided to return by train.

I didn't do the full calculations at the time but have done so now using calculators.

Cancun, Senator Wallin's outrageous op-ed

Submitted by Patricia on Thu, 09/12/2010 - 4:48pm

Senator Pamela Wallin has written a really misleading op-ed for the Guelph Mercury (http://news.guelphmercury.com/Opinions/EditorialOpinion/article/732827)

In defence of undemocratically killing Bill C-311, she writes:

Cancun, miscellaneous notes

Submitted by Patricia on Thu, 09/12/2010 - 4:41pm

These notes were written yesterday (Wed 9)

Cancun, Thu, Dec 9

Submitted by Patricia on Thu, 09/12/2010 - 4:22pm

Just one more day to go and things are looking gloomy. Last night on the bus back to our hotel I was sitting beside a man from Bangkok. He is here as part of the Thai negotiating team and was very gloomy. He believes that the small island states are being shafted because there is some behind the scenes negotiating going on (contrary to COP president Patricia Espinosa's explicity instructions on Sunday.)

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