Canada Hopes Financing Will Boost Its Image in Cancun

Ottawa hopes to show that it is serious when it comes to initiatives to deal with climate change.

A family passes by one of the stands promoting green energy at the Climate Village in Cancun, Mexico, on Dec. 4. Omar Torres/AFP/Getty Images

As the Cancun climate talks continue, Ottawa hopes the $400 million it invested for international climate change efforts this year will show that Canada is serious when it comes to initiatives to deal with climate change.

The financing is Canada’s 2010 share of the $100 billion that developed countries committed to under last year’s Copenhagen Accord to help poor nations adapt to the effects of climate change and lower their emissions.

The government has maintained that Canada supports a legally binding agreement to cut down emissions as long as all emitters sign on, including the developing nations.

But the government’s stance on the Kyoto Protocol might “raise eyebrows” and make it hard to understand how Canada can be interested in a legally binding agreement when it has neglected the provisions under the existing agreement, says John Drexhage, director of climate change and energy program at the Canadian think tank International Institute for Sustainable Development.

“If Canada wasn’t appointed to the Kyoto Protocol, then probably they would have a bit more credibility.”