The Government of Canada, which aims to meet a 17% reduction in GHG emissions from 2005 by 2020, is implementing policies to reduce GHG emissions by regulating new and modified coal-fired power plants and through vehicle efficiency standards.
IISD climate change and energy director David Sawyer said many Canadian GHG emitters are facing carbon costs consistent with emitters in the European Union and at levels well above competitors in the US.
"The federal and provincial governments are delivering reductions that jointly put Canada on track to achieve nearly half of its 2020 emissions reduction target," Sawyer said.
A report by IISD provides new modelling to measure the impact of Canadian efforts for reduction of GHG emissions and offers three options the country can consider to reach its target.
The first option suggests that the country can regulate all existing sources of carbon emissions, rather than just new or modified sources.
It can also look at establishing a domestic offsets system and expand Canadian use of international offsets that take advantage of the relatively low-cost reductions available internationally, IISD.
