As you read this, the sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is likely still sitting in The Hague. There, governments have until November 24, 2000, to iron out the details of how to meet the targets for reducing greenhouse gas (G HG) emissions that were set out in the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. To become effective, the Protocol must be ratified by 55 parties to the convention, including industrialized United Nation member countries accounting for 55 per cent of emissions. If this happens, Canada will be committed to reducing its GHG emissions to six per cent below what they were in 1990 by 2012-a goal that government documents describe as "the most profound economic challenge since the Second World War."
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