Kyoto relief hinted at for some industries

OTTAWA, ONTARIO More breaks on emission reductions could be in store for the industries responsible for half the country's annual load of greenhouse gas, Environment Minister Stéphane Dion is hinting in post-budget speeches.

Dion says he's sympathetic to industry claims they can't upgrade their plants quickly to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

"It's certain that we mustn't penalize a sector that today finds itself in a situation where the technology does not yet exist to do much more," the minister told a greenhouse gas conference in Montreal.

Dion's speech last week was the first of several appearances across the country to sell the federal budget's still-sketchy blueprint for a "green economy" by spending $5 billion over the next five years, mostly on climate-change programs. He will make the same points in speeches this week in Vancouver and Toronto, aides said.

Ottawa first proposed last year that the largest industrial emitters provide just under a quarter of the total annual reduction in greenhouse gases required under the Kyoto protocol during the 2008-2012 period.

The reductions are aimed at bringing Canada's greenhouse gas emissions to six per cent below 1990 levels. Many scientists agree that human activities producing greenhouse gases are responsible for most of the warming of the atmosphere and oceans since 1950.

Under the latest draft federal plan now circulating here, the big emitters would provide only one-sixth of the country's total Kyoto reductions, even though they are responsible for half of all the greenhouse gases from human activity. The industry figure is about 45 million tonnes of carbon dioxide out of Canada's projected reduction target of 275-280 million tonnes. The big emitters are asking for an additional concession of about 10 million tonnes, sources say.