Canadian official says U.S.-Canada emissions targets must match

Canada's top environmental official yesterday said his nation's greenhouse gas emissions targets must mirror U.S. plans because stronger or weaker cuts would cause economic harm, including so-called carbon tariffs.

The U.S. plans to propose an emissions cut at the Copenhagen climate talks “in the range” of 17 percent by 2020, relative to 2005 levels.

“If we do more than the U.S., we will suffer economic pain for no real environmental gain – economic pain that could impede our ability to invest in new, clean technologies and other innovative solutions to climate change,” said Environment Minister Jim Prentice in a Montreal speech yesterday, according to his prepared remarks.

“But if we do less, we will risk facing new border barriers into the American market,” he added.

The U.S. is Canada’s biggest trading partner. A recent paper by the Washington, D.C.-based Peterson Institute for International Economics said trade provisions in Capitol Hill climate plans could hit several major Canadian industries.