Questions on Forest and Soil Sinks Leave Canada’s Kyoto Target in Doubt

March 13, 2000—The Ottawa Citizen reports that unanswered questions about the use of soil and forest carbon sinks to meet Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions target has raised doubt about Canada’s ability to comply with the Kyoto Protocol when it takes affect in 2008.

In an interview, Canada’s Environment Minister David Anderson said that he believes Canada will meet its emissions target by 2008, but the government does not yet have a clear understanding of current emission levels or potential sources that remove carbon dioxide from the air (known as carbon sinks). Anderson faulted the international community for failing to establish whether carbon sequestration through forests and soil and the production of clean energy will qualify as carbon sinks under a Kyoto Protocol carbon credit-trading regime.

Canada has been counting on sink enhancement as an important contributor to meeting its Kyoto target.