While the majority of world leaders believe their time at a Mexico conference put the building blocks in place to create a new Kyoto Accord, critics say Canada isn't doing enough to address global warming.
For the third year in a row, activists gave the Harper government an unflattering award for environmental inaction – the Colossal Fossil. The black eye comes after Canada backed out of initial commitments to the binding Kyoto Accord, leading some to question whether a new international agreement would even have any teeth.
"Unfortunately Canada is at 54 of 57 for countries ranked by Germany," said Liberal environmental critic Gerard Kennedy of where the country ranks for green leadership.
"It won the Colossal Fossil for its misbehaviour at these talks."
The government says it will be a difficult year of negotiations before the next summit, where it's hoped new blanket regulations will be put into action.
"Our hope is a year from now in Durban [South Africa], there will be a new binding international agreement that deals with climate change," said Mark Warawa, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment.
The push for clear and aggressive targets is top of mind for Edmonton-Strathcona MP Linda Duncan. The NDP environmental critic was at the 12-day conference and says a lot of work needs to be done before governments can achieve real change.
"What's not resolved yet is exactly what will be the reduction limits for each of the countries and that's…where I'm going to be encouraging Canadians to put the heat on Canada to up the ante and reduce a lot more," she said during a Sunday appearance on CTV's Question Period.
One of the biggest achievements of the summit is the creation of a $100 billion green fund – a coffer developing nations can access to ensure their infrastructure meets environmentally-friendly standards.
Canada produces 1.5 per cent of the world's emissions, which means it owed $250 million to the fund. The Harper government exceeded that amount, pledging $400 million.
With Files from Kevin Armstrong
