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For release: April 2, 2008

Federal party leaders sign KYOTOplus pledge


Ottawa - Opposition party leaders Stéphane Dion, Gilles Duceppe and Jack Layton signed a pledge today to fight climate change. The KYOTOplus pledge is part of a national global warming petition campaign launched today on Parliament Hill by Canadian environmental and public interest organizations. The Prime Minister and Environment Minister John Baird were also invited to sign the pledge, but declined.

“We have only two years to negotiate an agreement to avert a global catastrophe. We can’t leave it up to the government any longer. Canadians want to be leaders not laggards in the fight against global warming,” said Arthur Sandborn of Greenpeace Canada.

KYOTOplus will gather the pledges of citizens and politicians who want Canada to take a leadership role on global warming - both domestically and internationally. It calls on elected Canadian politicians to “work to ensure that Canada honours its Kyoto commitment and sets a national target of cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 per cent, relative to the 1990 level, by 2020.”

“By signing the pledge, the three opposition leaders are the first of what we hope will be a majority of Canadian politicians committing to doing the right thing on climate change. KYOTOplus gives Canadians the opportunity to mobilize and pressure their government to protect our climate,” said Emilie Moorhouse of Sierra Club Canada.

It is widely accepted that in order to prevent catastrophically dangerous climate change, the global average temperature increase above pre-industrial levels must be kept as far below 2 degrees Celsius as possible. This will require a 25 to 40 per cent reduction (from 1990 levels) of greenhouse gas emissions by the world’s developed countries by 2020.

“KYOTOplus is a historic opportunity for Canadians and their leaders to pledge their support for deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,” said John Bennett of ClimateforChange.ca.

The KYOTOplus campaign calls for action on Canada’s Kyoto commitment and support for crucial U.N. negotiations on a post-2012 global agreement that will conclude in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009. The KYOTOplus campaign will engage citizens, politicians and civic leaders in all provinces, territories, towns and cities to support the Kyoto process and put an end to global warming.

Canadians can sign on at kyotoplus.ca

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