Project Green, Kyoto and the LFE's - part 1

A few weeks ago I received, from the Federal Government, the book entitled Moving Forward on Climate Change. The book, which appears to be part of Project Green, is an outline of the plan for honouring our Kyoto commitment. Of course it reads like any other government book, dry, confusing and vague. There are many points that make me shake my head in disbelief. So far the best “review” I have seen of this book can be found at the David Suzuki Foundation web site, Canada's climate change plan lacks teeth. So far I have only read about half of the book. The more I read the more questions I have. I have also begun to wonder about what I believe to be a few weak points in the plan. The original quota for LFE's in 2002 was set at 55Mt. Now less than three years later it has been reduced to 45 Mt. Why has this happened? According to the guide, p. 15, “The 45 Mt target is based on a BAU baseline to which methodological improvements have been made to the electricity component.” Huh? What the heck is a methodological improvement? The spin continues, “This 45 Mt target is equivalent to a 39 Mt target using the baseline from the 2002 Plan.” What the….? Wait a minute, in 2002 the target was set at 55 Mt. Now it seems that the Feds have gone back in time to adjust that target down by 16 Mt. So, the first reduction was by 18%, on paper, 55 Mt to 45 Mt. Now we are looking at a 29% reduction in the target from the revised baseline of 2002, 55 Mt to 39 Mt. Are they trying to make us think that they have actually increased the target from an equivalent 39 Mt to an actual 45 Mt. In effect an increase of 15%. I certainly hope not. And then there is the automotive industry, the One Tonne Challenge and the credit system. But these are topics I will rant about another day