Canada is considered one of the best countries to live in the world. But that doesn’t mean we don’t still have our flaws, and areas that need attention. Luckily, with a federal election coming up, climate change has the opportunity to be one of those things.
Recently, Canada was ranked almost dead last in “The Climate Change Performance Index” published annually by Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe. That means Canada hasn’t been working very hard to combat climate change, and the rest of the world is taking notice.
The report is based on factors such as emission levels, efficiency, renewable energy, and climate policy, and Canada was ranked 58th, only narrowly beating out Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia.
Canada was in agreement with the Kyoto Protocol in 2002, which was an international agreement to reduce emissions. But despite the agreement to reduce emissions by 6% by 2012, they continued to increase every year. Current Prime Minister Stephen Harper is being called a “climate villain” because he’s always been strongly opposed to Kyoto, and Canada officially withdrew from the agreement in 2012.
Another agreement, the Copenhagen Accord, focusing on climate change is in place and Canada is in agreement to work on reducing emissions. Maybe our next Prime Minister will put a little more effort into reducing climate change, and Canada can make its way out of the bottom for next years report.
