Canada will not meet Kyoto targets

The Conservative government submitted an ostensible Kyoto blueprint in August 2007, as required by the legislation. But that blueprint didn't commit to the Kyoto target of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to six per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.

In his decision, Justice Robert Barnes said Monday it's not up to the court to evaluate the government's climate change plan.

"I have concluded that the court has no role to play reviewing the reasonableness of the government's response to Canada's Kyoto commitments," he wrote.

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement ratified by 180 countries, including Canada, that sets targets for reducing greenhouse gases.

The Tories maintain that the Kyoto benchmarks are unattainable after years of inaction by their Liberal predecessors.

A court document filed by government lawyers earlier this year suggested meeting Kyoto targets would plunge Canada into a "severe recession."

"Canada's gross domestic product would be reduced by 6.5 per cent, $51 billion of national economic activity would be lost, with 276,000 jobs lost, and per capita income reductions of 2.9 per cent in 2009," the document said.